Kings Back in the Habit of Winning

They were looking frustrated on the ice. You wondered if they were ever going to score another power-play goal.

The Kings?

No, those were the Kings of two or three weeks ago. The new-look Kings defeated Quebec, 5-1, on Tuesday before a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum and the Nordiques were looking an awful lot like the old Kings, disorganized and discontent.

With the victory, the Kings (16-20-3) climbed back into a playoff spot, moving into an eighth-place tie with Winnipeg in the Western Conference and three points behind seventh-place Vancouver. They are unbeaten in their last five games (4-0-1) and are 5-1-1 in their last seven.

The Kings’ penalty killing was flawless as they killed off nine minors and by the third period, the Nordiques were yapping at each other. On six of the power plays, the Nordiques could not even manage a shot on goal.

Wayne Gretzky had a hand in four of the five Kings’ goals with four assists, including three on the power play.

“We’re playing a very physical game on many levels,” King Coach Barry Melrose said. “We’re making teams think before they come out to play us.”

Left wing Luc Robitaille scored twice for his 19th and 20th goals of the season. Rob Blake scored once and added an assist.

Tony Granato, who had been out with an inflamed disk in his lower back, played in his first game since Dec. 13. He had missed 10 games in all, including nine consecutive.

“I felt really good, my legs got a little tired later,” Granato said. “That’s as good as I’ve felt all year. I wanted to make sure I played as hard as I could physically, to put it out of my mind.”

Said Gretzky: “Tony’s been playing injured all year. You could see by his play tonight he was playing hard and taking the man and disrupting things. He played his best game of the year.”

Granato hit everything in sight in the first period and assisted on Blake’s goal at 7:39.

The prettiest goal of the night was the Kings’ final one, by forward Gary Shuchuk, who scored unassisted at 16:38 of the third. Shuchuk used a burst of speed to get around Alexei Gusarov on the right side and flipped a backhander between the pads of goaltender Stephane Fiset.

Even a bit of controversy didn’t seem to bother the Kings.

It happened late in the first period at 15:46 when a shot by Quebec defenseman Adam Foote crawled along the goal line behind goaltender Kelly Hrudey and Hrudey trapped it at the left post.

The goal light never went on and none of the replays showed that the puck went completely over the line. But referee Richard Trottier requested that the play be reviewed and video goal judge Jon Wenkleman almost immediately ruled that it was a goal, having taken a look at the overhead replay.

NHL supervisor Jim Christison was not pleased with the decision, and of course, neither was King General Manager Nick Beverley.

“I wasn’t comfortable in the decision that the video goal judge made,” Christison said. “At no point could I see it 100% (over the line).

“He swears it was in. I guess that’s a human error factor.”

Said Beverley: “It becomes a moot point. There was no mechanism where he (Christison) can say anything. In this instance, they’re not sitting together. Even if they are linked (by phone), this guy (Wenkleman) has the final say.”

King Notes

Forward Gary Shuchuk could have easily become an ex-King or a Phoenix Roadrunner when the Kings put him through waivers late last month near the end of their tumultuous trip through Canada. He went through waivers unclaimed and was not sent to the Kings’ minor league team in Phoenix. “At that point in time, it didn’t look like he was fitting in,” King General Manager Nick Beverley said. “It wasn’t an awful lot different than looking to make a trade. But no one took him.” Shuchuk has prospered since moving to center. He was one of the better players in the Kings’ 3-2 victory over the Mighty Ducks on Dec. 26 and scored the game-winner in a 6-5 victory against Vancouver on Dec. 28. . . . Right wing Dave Taylor suffered a blow to the head in a collision with Warren Rychel in the second period and did not return.