Spitting Image of a Pest : Game 5: The Kings’ Granato is hated by NHL players--until they become his teammates.

The penalty minutes kept piling up for King enforcer Marty McSorley, and, making it worse, Ranger rookie Tony Granato was skating away unscathed.

Finally, McSorley started rattling the glass of the penalty box at Madison Square Garden, screaming at the referee about the official’s grievous error.

McSorley was ejected from the game and spent the final 59 minutes in the locker room.

Four seasons later, McSorley can laugh about the incident. That’s because Granato is on his side now, against the Vancouver Canucks in the Smythe Division final.

Granato is to the Kings what Theoren Fleury is to the Calgary Flames and Ulf Samuelsson is to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Opposing players hate them, right up until the day they become teammates.

How infuriating can Granato be?

“I chased him all around Madison Square Garden,” McSorley said Monday after practice, recalling the incident. “I hit him and he speared me. The ref kept loading up the penalties and didn’t give him anything. I was gone after 48 seconds. I didn’t react positively.”

Said Granato, smiling: “I took it as a compliment that I could get under his skin.”

When Granato and Tomas Sandstrom were traded to the Kings for Bernie Nicholls in January of 1990, there were some misgivings in the Granato household. Linda Granato, Tony’s wife, vividly remembered that game in December of 1988.

“My wife was scared,” Granato said. “She thought (McSorley) would beat me up.”

Said McSorley: “When he got here, I said, ‘Stay away from me.’ I was just teasing him. Since then I spent a lot of time with (Granato) at Players Assn. meetings.”

Former King Coach Robbie Ftorek was impressed by what he saw of Granato during his rookie season and urged the Kings to trade for Granato and Sandstrom. A season later, then-General Manager Rogie Vachon made the deal, probably the best trade of his regime.

Sandstrom and Granato joined the Kings for a game at Edmonton, and Granato quickly earned his new teammates’ respect when he took a run at the Oilers’ Mark Messier, which some might consider suicidal.

But Granato, 28, survived, and has improved every season since. He scored a career-high 39 goals in 1991-92 and followed with career highs of 45 assists and 82 points this season. In the playoffs, he has three goals and seven points in 10 games.

And Granato has cut down on his proclivity for foolish penalties, instead goading opponents into minor penalties.

“We certainly love him,” King Coach Barry Melrose said. “Tony’s a pretty smart man. He’s definitely the guy who stirs our drink. I was very happy with Tony’s game (Sunday). If we had all played like that, we would have been fine.

“He’s definitely a guy who instigates. I think he’s played better against Vancouver than he did against Calgary.”

Said left wing Mike Donnelly, Granato’s linemate: “He’s the aggressor. He mixes it up and it helps the team. I only played one game against him, but he’s a tough player to play against. He can hit you, and he can do a lot of things. He’s like a thorn in their side, always in their face.”

Canuck left wing Sergio Momesso can attest to that. During Game 2, he became so unnerved by Granato that he spat at him, drawing another minor and a 10-minute gross misconduct. Momesso, embarrassed, refused to talk about the incident and would not appear for a TV interview.

Even Granato seemed a bit taken aback by the spitting incident. And he is not quite sure about the comparisons to Fleury.

“I’m a little bit (bothered),” he said. “I have a lot of respect for him as a player.”

Granato looked over at Sandstrom, who also has gotten to many an opponent, and said: “Hey, what about him?”

Sandstrom might be in a class with Samuelsson and Fleury, but he hasn’t had anyone spitting at him. At least not yet.

King Notes

With the best-of-seven series at 2-2, King Coach Barry Melrose said he will make a couple of changes for tonight’s Game 5 at Pacific Coliseum. He would not specify, but did say that goaltender Kelly Hrudey will start his fourth consecutive game. “Kirk McLean (of Vancouver) gave up 13 goals in two games and nothing was ever said about that,” Melrose said. “Kelly gave up 11 goals in two games and people are all over him. I don’t think he deserved (the booing).”

Nor will Melrose bench center Jimmy Carson, who played slightly more than eight minutes of Game 4. Carson has no points in this series and only three shots on goal in four games. During the Calgary series, Carson had five goals and an assist.