Sharks Make Kings Battle for Victory

Any prospect of another fun-filled, goal-fest by the Kings had long disappeared by the third period and they were forced to resort to a decidedly unglamorous way to hold on to win a hockey game.

Penalty-killing.

Faced with a potentially costly double-minor by defenseman Mark Hardy late in the third period, the Kings fought off the surging Sharks and emerged with a 5-2 victory over San Jose on Sunday night before 13,018. It was the smallest crowd at the Forum since 12,281 attended a game against Minnesota on Oct. 17, 1990.

Actually, the final score was a bit deceptive since the Kings’ final two goals came when the Sharks pulled goaltender Arturs Irbe for an extra attacker. Forward Tony Granato made it 4-2 at 19:04 for his first goal of the season and center Pat Conacher finished the scoring with 13.8 seconds with is third goal of the season.

King Coach Barry Melrose joked about Irbe’s excellent play against the Kings: “He must be 7-46-6 against everyone else and he’s never played an average game against us, much less even just a good game.”

Left wing Luc Robitaille had one goal and one assist. Wayne Gretzky, who had a six-point performance in the 10-3 victory against Detroit on Saturday, had two assists.

But the game turned in the middle of the third and it was anything but easy. The Kings (2-1) had just taken a 3-2 lead on Jari Kurri’s goal off Robitaille’s centering pass at 9:46 of the third. Then Hardy put their tenuous lead in jeopardy at 12:49 with a questionable double-minor.

He was not the only King who was spinning out of control. In the second period, defenseman Rob Blake compounded his initial tripping penalty by taking another minor when he shot the puck in the direction of referee Ron Hoggarth.

“I wasn’t very happy,” Melrose said. “We talked about it tonight (after the game). We’ve got to get our mental toughness back. Rob has come unglued, too. He’s got to control his emotion. . . . Yup, the guys always try to keep it interesting.”

Hardy first picked up a two-minute minor for interfering with Kip Miller and then got the second for cross-checking Miller. But the Kings fought their way out of it with some inspired penalty-killing, including a forceful bodycheck by defenseman Blake on forward Dave Capuano.

In the brief King-Shark series, the Kings have dominated the games in Los Angeles. They have never lost to the Sharks at the Forum, going 7-0-1 and outscoring them 38-20.

But Sunday, the Kings had to struggle to create opportunities. They did not get a lot of shots on goal in the first two periods--15.

But right wing Tomas Sandstrom--who had a career-high six assists against Detroit on Saturday--resumed his torrid weekend pace with a goal on the first shot of the game at 4:58 of the first period. It was his 600th career point.

Sandstrom did not learn until after the game about the goal’s significance and did not retrieve the puck.

“We’ll make up a fake one,” he said.

King Notes

The Sharks might be selling a ton of merchandise, but they are not one of the better draws in the NHL. That, as well as the Mighty Ducks’ home game added up to a non-sellout at the Forum. The Kings had sold out 38 consecutive games, which included last season’s 11 playoff games as well as the first two games of this season. Their last non-sellout was on Dec. 15 against Tampa Bay. Last season, the Kings sold out 34 of their 41 home games.