Kings’ Sandstrom Returns in Style

Four root canals would put most people out of work for days, maybe a week. Even a hockey player might need a day to recover.

Not Tomas Sandstrom, who has seemingly spent more time recovering from injuries than any other NHL player.

One day after his extensive dental work, Sandstrom scored the Kings’ first goal in their 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.

The sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum watched the Kings (34-31-7) get a mental lift from Sandstrom and open a five-point lead over the fourth-place Winnipeg Jets in the Smythe Division. It was their fourth consecutive victory and sixth in a row at home.

Also contributing was King goaltender Robb Stauber, who won his second consecutive start, making 27 saves. His biggest moment came at 1:43 of the third period when he faced Blue center Craig Janney on a penalty shot.

King Coach Barry Melrose was upset that the penalty shot was called after play had continued for about another 15 seconds.

“No sport lets you go on playing,” Melrose said. “I can’t believe it. The minute play continues, it’s over. Coming to the NHL has been great. I’ve seen all sorts of things this year.”

Said Stauber: “Who called it? The referee didn’t call it. How can (the linesman) call it 30 seconds later.”

Janney, awarded the shot when Stauber threw his stick at the puck to stop a potential scoring play, hit the left goal post.

At that point, the Kings led, 3-2. The Blues scored in the second period on a short-handed goal by Ron Wilson and one at even strength by Brett Hull.

Hull’s goal was his 50th of the season, the fourth time he has reached that plateau.

Sandstrom had been the first King to score in four periods against St. Louis goaltender Curtis Joseph, who had a shutout against them on Feb. 25.

Sandstrom’s first-period goal at 14:05 was a backhander from in front of the net, beating Joseph in the upper right corner. Center Jari Kurri went around left wing Igor Korolev at the blue line and stepped around a fallen defenseman, Curt Giles, in the left-wing circle before he fed the puck to Sandstrom.

Sandstrom has missed 45 games this season. He suffered a broken jaw on Jan. 28 when he got in the way of a shot by Paul Coffey and sat out 21 games. He missed the other large portion of time because of a broken forearm, which came from a slash by Toronto center Doug Gilmour on Nov. 21.

Sandstrom, who described his three hours of root canals as “routine,” lost 15 pounds during his latest absence because his jaw was wired shut most of the time.

“If I had 100% timing, I could have had three or four more goals,” he said. “If felt pretty good. I’ve been skating for four weeks.”

The Kings’ top line of Luc Robitaille, Wayne Gretzky and Tony Granato continued to contribute to the offense. Robitaille’s second-period goal at 10:11 gave the Kings a 2-1 lead. It was his 54th goal, tying a career high set in the 1987-88 season. Robitaille has a 10-game goal-scoring streak, and Gretzky has a nine-game point streak.

Granato scored the game-winner at 13:17 of the second period on a shot from the edge of right circle, having taken a pass from Gretzky, who was in the right corner.