On New Year’s Eve, Kings Tie One On, 4-4 : Hockey: Red Wings pummel Stauber with 55 shots, and Melrose takes solace in fact that his team didn’t lose.

His team had all but disappeared offensively after the first period, yielded a season-high 55 shots on goal and mustered only 18 shots, yet King Coach Barry Melrose racked his brain and found a positive statistic in the aftermath of a 4-4 tie here against Detroit.

“I don’t think we’ve lost a game when we’ve given up over 50 shots,” he said.

And he wasn’t joking.

Then again, Melrose does not play goal for the Kings. Robb Stauber, who did tend goal on Friday night, slid and sprawled and lunged as he tried to keep the Kings (14-20-3) afloat in the Western Conference. The Kings, undefeated in their last three road games, are four points out of a playoff spot.

Stauber could not remember whether he had faced more than 55 shots on goal at any level. He did see the shot meter turning over at a rapid rate.

“I guess I was aware of it, I could see it,” Stauber said. “But I didn’t pay that much attention. My job is hard enough.”

Defenseman Rob Blake, standing nearby Stauber, leaned over and joked: “We were trying to get him the record.”

That club record remained far off in the shot-meter distance--68 shots launched by Minnesota on March 25, 1981. The Kings’ goalie of record, Mario Lessard, survived and even earned a 4-3 road victory despite the barrage.

Maybe Melrose should not get his hands on those kind of statistics if he thinks the Kings are immune to losing when the opponents hit the fifty-something range.

Through a strange set of circumstances, he is right. The Kings are 2-0-2 when opponents have more than 50 shots on goal. Forty-nine shots is dangerous, though. Montreal had 49 shots on goal and beat the Kings, 4-0, on Nov. 27.

Melrose thought the shot meter was a little out of control at Joe Louis Arena. “I think it was three-for-one night,” he said.

His players thought so too.

“It seemed like they were fudging on their side and on ours,” defenseman Tim Watters said. “A couple of times guys I thought they had shots and there was nothing on the (score) sheet.

“Robb Stauber played unbelievable, but we can’t give up that many shots and expect to win.”

Watters attempted to take matters into his own hands early in the third period. Detroit’s Steve Yzerman, who scored the game-tying goal and added two assists, dropped his stick in front of the King net. The quick-thinking Watters shoved Yzerman’s stick into the net behind Stauber. Yzerman was irritated, dug the stick out of the net and demanded a penalty.

It was probably the best way to temporarily halt Yzerman. The game had been billed as a showdown between the league’s top scoring leaders--the Red Wings’ Sergei Fedorov and the Kings’ Wayne Gretzky. Fedorov has 65 points and Gretzky is second with 63.

Fedorov had one goal on an outstanding play at 6:36 of the first period to make the score 2-2. He took advantage of a Gretzky giveaway, skated down the left wing and stopped up in the middle of the left circle and knocked a shot past Stauber on the stick side.

Gretzky helped make it 3-2 at 13:30 of the first, setting up Jari Kurri on the power play, sliding a pinpoint pass across the slot to Kurri at the left crease.

The other King goals came from defensemen Darryl Sydor (his fifth), Charlie Huddy (second) and a shorthander from Shawn McEachern (seven). Former King defenseman Paul Coffey had three assists for Detroit.

McEachern’s goal made it 4-2 at 17:29 of the first, but the game then turned into a Red Wing shooting gallery against Stauber.

“We had a lot of time to shoot and it was probably too much,” Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said. “We tried to overpower him (Stauber) and we ended up putting a lot of shots right into his midsection.”