NHL Stars Forget to Suit Up Their Defensemen, 16-6 : Hockey: Gartner is MVP as Wales scores a record rout. Gretzky looks for a different format for game.

By LISA DILLMAN

Feb. 7, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MONTREAL —

Yes, there can be such a thing as eating too much candy, drinking too much champagne or scoring too many goals.

Hockey’s answer to gluttony was trotted out on Saturday in the form of the NHL’s 44th All-Star game at the Forum. This will be the last All-Star event at the Forum, because a new structure is being built.

Excess was supposed have fallen by the wayside after the 1980s, but there was an overabundance of offensive highlights as the Wales Conference defeated the Campbell Conference, 16-6.

The Wales led, 6-0, after the first period and 9-0 before Chicago center Jeremy Roenick scored at 5:52 of the second.

The 16 goals were a record for one team and the combined 22 goals set another record, surpassing the 19 goals in 1990 in Pittsburgh. The combined 90 shots (Wales 49, Campbell 41) is another record. The previous record of 87 was also set two years ago. The Wales leads the All-Star series, 12-5.

“With Mario (Lemieux) in the lineup, there could have been another touchdown,” said Buffalo’s Pat LaFontaine, who scored once.

Lemieux, who is sidelined indefinitely while he is undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s disease, received a standing ovation from the crowd of 17,137. He hadn’t planned on coming to the game, but new NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman invited Lemieux.

With Lemieux out of the lineup and Wayne Gretzky struggling, an unlikely star emerged Saturday. The New York Rangers’ Mike Gartner was voted most valuable player, leading the Wales with four goals and one assist. Gartner wasn’t even supposed to be here, playing only because of Mark Messier’s injury.

Said Campbell Coach Mike Keenan, joking: “I tried to put a checker on him.”

Gartner, 33, in his 14th NHL season, has scored more than 30 goals in every season, an NHL record. He isn’t a charismatic figure, but that’s the way he likes it.

“I’ve tried to avoid publicity most of my career, and it’s worked,” Gartner said.

He scored three goals during the first period against Chicago goaltender Ed Belfour and picked up the fourth at 3:33 of the second against Calgary’s Mike Vernon. His teammates tried to set him up for a fifth goal, but they were also trying to pad the Islanders’ Pierre Turgeon’s point total of five.

The three Kings in the game were quiet: Jari Kurri assisted on Winnipeg right wing Teemu Selanne’s third-period goal, and Gretzky and Luc Robitaille went pointless.

Gretzky, who was in the game as league president Gil Stein’s special appointee, is probably glad this All-Star weekend is over. He spent the last couple of days surrounded by controversy, the subject of a rumor that had him requesting a trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“I knew I couldn’t get traded because of the Bernie (Nicholls) Rule,” Gretzky said, joking about his former teammate, who was sent from the Kings to the Rangers during the skills competition at the 1990 All-Star game.

Gretzky has several ideas about changing the All-Star format to make it more competitive. Clearly, Bettman and his staff will have to take a look at the event, which has turned into a glorified shootout.

“I’m sure they (fans) weren’t too fond of a 9-0 lead--maybe Mike (Keenan) is a little rusty,” Gretzky joked about the Campbell coach, who was fired by Chicago earlier this season. “I don’t know what to say. Maybe the Stanley Cup champions against the NHL All-Stars. Or the NHL All-Stars against an All-Star European team. Right now, everyone agrees something new is worth a try.”

Almost all of the players--except Brett Hull of St. Louis, who loves goals and more goals--were in agreement. Especially the goaltenders.

“I think we’re misleading a lot of people about hockey,” said Vernon, who was shell-shocked in the 1990 game.

At one point during the first period, Vernon watched Belfour struggle as he gave up three goals in a span of 1:09. Vernon turned to Minnesota’s Jon Casey, who played the third period.

“I told Jon, ‘Let’s sneak out the back door and get out of here,’ ” Vernon said, laughing.

“But we couldn’t do that to Eddie. We all had to take our shot at it.”

All-Star Notes

The Olympic Dream Team concept for the Winter Games in 1994 will be shelved, according to several NHL sources. This issue will be discussed at today’s Board of Governors meeting, but the inability to get organized in time for the Games is a problem and the lengthy break in the season would be too much of an obstacle. “I don’t think there will even be a vote on it,” one NHL source said. Another topic on today’s agenda is realignment, which depends on whether Anaheim or Miami enter the league for the 1993-94 season or the next. . . . The Wales Conference scored 12 goals in the 1990 game. The NHL record for most goals in a regular-season game is 16, set by the Montreal Canadiens against the Quebec Bulldogs in 1920.

For the Record

A look at records set or tied in Saturday’s game:

RECORDS

(Individual)

* Career assists: Ray Bourque (10)

* Appearances: Coach Scotty Bowman (10)

* Victories: Bowman (5)

(Team)

* Most goals, combined: 22

* Most goals, one team: 16 (Wales)

* Most shots, combined: 90

* Most assists in one period: 4 (Adam Oates)