Penguins Stopped by Kings : Hockey: Granato and Millen score two goals apiece and L.A. wins 11th in a row at home, 5-3. Lemieux doesn’t play.

There were the usual celebrities at the Forum for the Kings-Penguins showdown, the only time the teams will play each other in Los Angeles this season.

Wayne Gretzky.

Mario Lemieux.

And neither skated a single shift in the Kings’ 5-3 victory over Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

The Kings (18-7-2) have won 11 consecutive games at the Forum, surpassing a club record of 10 set in the 1990-91 season.

They did it without Gretzky, Dave Taylor and Tomas Sandstrom, among others. Gretzky’s absence, of course, was expected as he is sidelined indefinitely because of a herniated thoracic disk. Lemieux, brittle back and all, had not missed a game all season.

He took part in Thursday’s morning skate and did several interviews before the game. But he was a late scratch, much to the chagrin of the sellout crowd of 16,005. Evidently, Lemieux has sore tendons in his left heel. The same injury forced him to leave a game Nov. 13 against the Detroit Red Wings.

King Coach Barry Melrose certainly wasn’t upset he wouldn’t get to watch Lemieux. Asked if he was bothered at all, Melrose laughed loudly, saying: “No! There was no disappointment. He’s the greatest player in the game. I’d be crazy to hope he’s in the lineup.”

Any displeasure by the fans over Lemieux’s absence disappeared when the Kings took a 2-0 lead on six shots within the first 10:19. The Penguins tied the score, 3-3, on a second-period goal by Ron Francis, but Tony Granato’s second goal of the game, with 19.4 seconds remaining in the period, gave the Kings a 4-3 lead heading into the third.

Granato’s goal, his 12th, came on a 45-foot slap shot, beating Penguin goaltender Tom Barrasso on the stick side. What set up the goal was the puck glancing off a Pittsburgh defenseman at the Kings’ blue line. King defenseman Alexei Zhitnik, who had three assists, got the loose puck and passed it to Granato in the neutral zone.

The Kings took a two-goal lead for the third time on Lonnie Loach’s early third-period goal. Loach took advantage of a scramble to Barrasso’s right. Loach basically beat Barrasso to the puck and took a couple of swings before back-handing it between Barrasso’s pads, giving the Kings a 5-3 lead at 5:05.

Pittsburgh (18-7-3) has the NHL’s best record. Heading into Thursday’s game, the Kings trailed only two teams in the standings, Pittsburgh and Montreal. But the Canadiens lost, 4-3, to the Boston Bruins and the Kings moved into second place overall with 38 points.

Certainly no one could have expected the Kings to defeat the Penguins without a big night from Jari Kurri or Luc Robitaille. But neither Kurri nor Robitaille recorded so much as a point.

The Mike Donnelly-Corey Millen-Granato line, which carried the Kings on their four-game trip, rose to the occasion.

Millen had another big night with two goals--his 14th and 15th--and added an assist for three points. Granato had two goals and Donnelly was shut out.

King goaltender Kelly Hrudey is 9-1 against the Penguins since he was traded to Los Angeles in 1989. He admitted to some relief when hearing Lemieux would not be playing.

“We’re missing players, too,” said Hrudey, who faced 39 shots. “But there are no excuses. It was a see-saw game. You know they’re still going to score some goals. They’re a tough team, but it’s still only 20-something games into the season. Let’s not get carried away.”

King Notes

Right wing Tomas Sandstrom, out because of a broken left forearm, watched the Kings play for the first time since being slashed by Toronto’s Doug Gilmour on Nov. 21. Sandstrom said there was nothing new to report. Right wing Dave Taylor, missing from the lineup since suffering a concussion against Edmonton on Nov. 14, skated with his teammates Thursday’s morning for the first time since the injury. . . . The Penguins also were without two of their top defenseman, Ulf Samuelsson (broken cheekbone) and Kjell Samuelsson (ankle). The Samuelssons are not related.