East’s Storm Leaves Sports Adrift : Kings: Game against Flyers is postponed after large window at Spectrum is smashed by high winds.

The massive storm hitting the Eastern seaboard forced its way into the Spectrum with about two minutes left in the first period of Saturday’s Kings-Flyers game before about 2,000 fans, announcing its arrival with a noisy crash.

Winds smashed a large window above the northeast concourse and glass went flying into the stands, all the way down to the boards in the Kings’ end. The teams finished the period with the score 1-1, but the game was postponed when the fire marshal deemed the building unsafe. A woman working at a concessions stand suffered a cut hand from the flying glass when she was trying to cover her face. In addition to the broken window, there was a leak in the roof of the Spectrum.

“We just couldn’t take the chance with an injury,” said Ron Ryan, the Flyers’ chief operating officer.

It is believed to be the first time a hockey game has been stopped while in progress because of weather, according to NHL spokesman Gary Meagher. The Kings were scheduled to play in Buffalo this afternoon.

The Sabres were affected by weather Saturday as well, playing the Whalers before 1,362 in Hartford, Conn.

As of 8 p.m., there was 11 inches of snow in Philadelphia, with more expected later.

The NHL has a policy that no game can be postponed without the permission of its president. If the game is postponed because the home arena can’t be opened, the home team must pay for any additional expenses to the visiting team for the rescheduled game. Coach Barry Melrose jokingly suggested that the teams play later this month in Milwaukee during the Kings’ next trip, but Russ Farwell, Flyer general manager, rejected the idea.

“This never happened in the minors,” Melrose said with a smile. “We always found a way to play the game.”

Melrose didn’t hear the glass crashing, but some of his players and assistant coach Cap Raeder did.

“I heard a big bang, and I turned and saw a bunch of people scrambling around,” defenseman Charlie Huddy said. “It was pretty scary. If it was summertime, it’d be classified as a hurricane.”

Said center Jimmy Carson: “It was like a big crash. You could tell it was glass hitting the boards. I saw people scattering.”

Arena ushers cleared the section where the glass hit and immediately blocked off the area with yellow police tape. With the wind blowing into the arena, it quickly grew colder in the Spectrum. The teams finished the period and went off to their dressing rooms. In between periods, Melrose encountered Ryan in the corridor.

“Mr. Ryan said, ‘You don’t have to worry, a game has never been canceled here in 26 years,’ ” Melrose said.

Several minutes later, history was made at the Spectrum.

The Flyers were victimized by weather in their first NHL season when the Spectrum roof blew off on March 1, 1968. The team had to play its remaining home games on the road, including some at Le Colisee in Quebec.

Twenty-five years later, the wind hit the Flyers again.

“We had them right where we wanted,” the Flyers’ Eric Lindros joked.

Said King goaltender Rick Knickle with a smile: “I played a good 20 minutes--the rest of the 40 minutes, I was out to lunch.”

Huddy and Wayne Gretzky, were with the Edmonton Oilers when lights went out at the Boston Garden during Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final in 1988. That game was moved to Edmonton.

The Oilers won Game 4, completing the sweep of the Bruins. Gretzky said this interruption could end up helping the Kings. “If we delay it long enough we could end up getting Corey (Millen) and Tomas (Sandstrom) back,” he said.

* DODGERS

Hurricane-force winds knock out power to operate the scoreboard, which would have revealed an 11-4 loss to the Yankees. C11