Despite It All, Kings Win : Hockey: After weathering more than one storm, they beat Sabres, 4-2.

The Kings’ lost Eastern weekend featured severe weather problems, scheduling snafus and a fast-moving outbreak of player dissension. When all those elements were combined, it certainly didn’t seem like the ideal equation for a victory on Monday.

Yet the Kings were able to channel their frustration and defeat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2, before a crowd of 13,799 at Memorial Auditorium, winning their first road game since Feb. 22.

The game had been postponed one day because the rink wasn’t ready for hockey and officials weren’t certain when the Sabres and the Kings could reach Buffalo on Sunday. That decision angered the Kings--who were stuck on their private plane for more than five hours in Philadelphia--and forced Wayne Gretzky to abandon his usual diplomatic ways.

Gretzky was the most vocal of the Kings, criticizing the NHL, the NHL Players Assn. and the Kings’ management.

A day later, he led the Kings again, picking up two assists in the second period and scoring a short-handed, empty-netter with 36 seconds remaining.

“We were mentally tough tonight,” Gretzky said. “I think this was our mentally toughest game of the year. We didn’t want to lose.”

King Coach Barry Melrose addressed the difficulties of the weekend in the pregame meeting, urging his players to forget about the problems and the aggravation of having to fly home to play Winnipeg tonight.

“We didn’t want to have an excuse as to why we lost,” Gretzky said. “It was a tough weekend for us. . . . We talked about it before the game. We talked with the players and said let’s not be able to say it was a tough weekend and we lost two games because of it.

“So far, one win. Winnipeg will be ready for us. (Teemu) Selanne is playing great.”

Said Melrose: “We were trying to focus our aggression against the league and against Buffalo for not having the ice ready.”

There was some residue of bitterness over the developments. Even though the third-place Kings (31-31-7) took a one-point lead over the Jets in the Smythe Division, the Jets already were in Los Angeles on Monday, waiting for the Kings. The Kings are calling tonight’s game against the Jets the biggest of their season.

“That is not a home game for us,” Melrose said, shaking his head. “It’s a road game.”

Said Luc Robitaille, who scored his 50th goal and added one assist to record his 100th point: “We needed to win and there was the emotion to win. It still was not the right thing. We’ve got no choice--if we lost, they’ll treat us like bums. It’s still a stupid trip.”

At least for a couple of players it wasn’t a stupid trip. Left wing Mike Donnelly scored against his former team, putting the Kings up 1-0 with his 24th of the season, at 6:42 of the first.

Then there was goaltender Robb Stauber, who, before the trip, hadn’t started since Feb. 11. He played a creditable game against Pittsburgh, with the Kings losing in overtime. Melrose was going to start Rick Knickle against the Sabres but changed his mind late Sunday night, saying he wanted Knickle to be fresh for the Winnipeg game.

Stauber’s start against Pittsburgh had been a last-minute thing, too, as he got the news less than two hours before the game when Kelly Hrudey came down with flu.

Monday was important for Stauber, who made 30 saves. It was his first win since Jan. 12 against Ottawa. He had been 0-4-1 in his last five starts. One of his most impressive stops was a glove save on Pat LaFontaine at 7:36 of the third period with the Kings ahead, 3-2. Stauber and the Kings held the potent combination of LaFontaine and Alexander Mogilny to one point, which was LaFontaine’s second-period assist late in the second period.

King defenseman Marty McSorley helped set the tone early in front of Stauber when he broke up a two-on-one by LaFontaine and Mogilny 2:40 into the game.

In a sense, this trip actually helped Stauber’s mind-set. “It’s really hard sitting out,” he said. “You don’t feel like you’re part of the team. You lose some of that being around the team in crucial situations. After the Pittsburgh game, I felt great at practice and felt like part of the team.”

Then he had the chance to bond with his teammates after Saturday’s game against the Flyers was stopped after one period because of unsafe arena conditions, then on the bus ride with the Denver Nuggets on Sunday and five more hours on the team plane and finally during Monday’s game.

It seems as though the Kings were unified in dissension as well as in victory.