Canadiens Catch Kings With Three Late Goals, 5-5

In the old days--such as last season--the Montreal Canadiens were not exactly an offensive force. Defense ruled, and a three-goal output would be considered a big scoring night.

How about three goals in a span of 7:09?

That’s what happened as the Canadiens rallied from a three-goal deficit during the third period for a 5-5 tie with Kings here on Tuesday night. Left wing Vincent Damphousse tied the score with 31 seconds remaining after the club had pulled goaltender Patrick Roy for an extra attacker.

For the Kings, the final minutes of regulation and overtime were a constant rush of the Canadiens on outmanned attacks. But they barely managed to hang on in this neutral-site game before 2,276--about 1,500 short of capacity--at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

“They’re a brand new team,” said King left wing Luc Robitaille, who scored twice.

“Vincent Damphousse. Brian Bellows. A new coach. They’re so different you can’t even compare them to last year. The only thing that’s the same is they’re wearing the same jerseys.”

Both teams had chances to win it in overtime. King center Jari Kurri was thwarted in the first 30 seconds. Then there was Damphousse, who scored the Canadiens’ final three goals. He skated in with less than two minutes to play in overtime and a big save from King goaltender Kelly Hrudey prevented the Canadiens from winning.

Hrudey was visibly disgusted with his performance.

“We didn’t play the full 60 minutes,” said Hrudey, who faced 29 shots.

“And I was absolutely horrible. I fought the puck from the first minute of the game. I thought I fought through it all right in the second. But in the third . . . well, we still got a point even with me playing horribly.”

The Kings (19-7-3) still were displeased by not taking two points from Montreal, especially with such a commanding lead. But they haven’t lost since Nov. 28, against Toronto and are 7-1-1 in their last nine games.

Tuesday brought another injury as well. They were forced to play most of the third period without left wing Tony Granato, who has bruised left ribs.

“I wasn’t happy with the way we played,” King Coach Barry Melrose said. “We can’t have letdowns like that.”

Melrose talked about picking up the point, saying: “We’re greedy. We wanted two. We’re a bunch of greedy guys.”

Said Robitaille: “There was a little bit of panic. We weren’t getting the puck out of the zone. It’s a good lesson for us. They pressed us very hard.”

Until the final 7:40, the Kings were in control.

Robitaille’s second goal of the game and 23rd of the season gave the Kings a 5-2 lead at 6:50 of the third.

Earlier in the third, there was Paul Coffey’s end-to-end rush, giving the Kings a 4-2 lead at 2:24 of the third.

During the second, Kurri’s smoothly executed one-timed shot off the wing gave the Kings their first lead of the game, 3-2, at 15:48.

Afterward, Melrose thought about the game a little longer.

“It was disappointing because we had them and we let them back in the game,” he said.

“It was us. We quit hitting and we quit finishing checks. It was a disappointment. But if you had told me in the morning we’d tie Montreal, I wouldn’t have been disappointed.”