Kings Struggle to a 6-6 Tie : Hockey: Stauber has trouble against Red Wings, but Robitaille helps bail him out with five points.

The biggest obstacle for the Kings to overcome in Thursday night’s game against the Red Wings was not Detroit’s dazzling center, Steve Yzerman. Nor was it the wrenching reality of facing former teammates, defenseman Paul Coffey and right wing Jim Hiller.

Their biggest menace for most of the game wore silver and black and stood in the goaltender’s crease. It was rookie Robb Stauber, whose shaky performance almost prevented the Kings from coming away with any points.

Nevertheless, buoyed by left wing Luc Robitaille’s goal and four assists, the Kings tied the Red Wings, 6-6, at the Forum.

Robitaille was pleased with the chemistry with his new center Jimmy Carson, who was acquired in the trade with Detroit. “He talks a lot on the ice,” Robitaille said. “It’s easier to see him. He just says, ‘Luc, Luc, I’m open. Give it to me.’ ”

The duo helped to offset the performance of Stauber, who had as many problems with 55-foot slap shots as he did with slow tricklers. Fortunately, for the Kings (24-24-7), Stauber managed to get on track by late in the third period and overtime, making several big saves.

The offensive show was to be expected from the high-scoring Red Wings. But most of the sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum was probably eager to see how the key players in the Kings-Red Wings trade late last month fared on Thursday. Coffey didn’t score up any points but didn’t commit any serious defensive gaffes. Hiller recorded one assist on Shawn Burr’s first-period goal.

Afterward, Coffey was greeted in the Red Wing dressing room by the Kings’ trainers and Ty Gretzky, Wayne’s son.

“It’s never easy,” Coffey said of playing his former teammates. “It’s like getting traded. It was different for me out there. Wayne will tell you, sometimes even going back to Edmonton feels weird. You’ve just got to treat it like a hockey game.”

Said Detroit Coach Bryan Murray: “There were a couple of times that he may have been trying to do things too pretty or too nice. Both he and Hiller may have been trying to do too much and did not play like they had been.

As for the current Kings and former Red Wings, Carson had numerous chances and picked up two assists before scoring his first goal since the trade. (Neither Gary Shuchuk nor Marc Potvin were noticeable).

Carson’s goal, which came 42 seconds into the third period, gave the Kings a 6-5 lead. Setting up Carson was Robitaille, who took the puck from the left corner and fed it to Carson. Carson, one-timing the pass from the edge of the right circle, blasted the shot past Detroit goaltender Tim Cheveldae.

“It’s kind of like starting the season off,” Carson said. “I just wanted to get the first one in and now I can go on from here.”

Said King Coach Barry Melrose: “It would have been perfect for us and you would have had something nice to write about.”

As was the trend the entire night, the Red Wings didn’t take long to get back into the game, tying the score, 6-6, at 2:13. Sheldon Kennedy, slipping away from King defenseman Rene Chapdelaine at the left crease, converted the rebound of Yves Racine’s original shot.

King Notes

As expected, right wing Dave Taylor missed Thursday’s game, which was his second consecutive game out of the lineup. Since Tuesday morning, Taylor has been having recurring symptoms of the concussion he suffered Nov. 14 against Edmonton. That concussion forced him to miss 16 games. Doctors had told Taylor that it wouldn’t be unusual for symptoms to recur for up to a year. . . . Others out of the lineup were defenseman Brent Thompson (abdominal strain), center Corey Millen (groin strain), right wing Tomas Sandstrom (broken jaw) and forward Jim Thomson (coach’s decision).

* DRAWING BLANKS

The Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens play to the first scoreless tie in the NHL in more than three years. C8