Perfect Start Powers the Kings, 5-3 : Hockey: L.A. scores on its first four shots and then holds off the Devils. Gretzky needs 16 goals to break Howe’s record.

Textbook hockey, it was not.

The King-New Jersey Devil game here on Saturday night featured one period of playing dangerously, followed by two periods of solid goaltending and stellar defense.

And the Kings prevailed in those crazy first 20 minutes, which was all they needed in their 5-3 victory before a sellout crowd of 19,040 at Meadowlands Arena.

How strange was that first period?

--The Kings scored four goals on four shots.

--Wayne Gretzky scored on a breakaway. He can bank the puck off the side of the net and score or slap a 30-foot line drive out of the air past a goalie, but usually doesn’t score on breakaways.

--New Jersey Coach Jacques Lemaire pulled starting goaltender Chris Terreri at 8:39 of the first period. Terreri gave up three goals, but the timing of the switch was odd because Bruce Driver’s goal at 8:39 had cut the Kings’ lead to 3-2. The Kings scored on their next shot, on the power play, when Rob Blake’s shot from above the right circle went past goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz after deflecting off Devil right wing John MacLean’s stick.

“It was a very strange game,” said Gretzky, who added an empty-netter with four seconds remaining and had one assist for a three-point performance.

“We got two short-handed goals and they had one. You don’t know what will happen. (King Coach Barry Melrose) said keep shooting at the net and strange things will happen.”

The two goals by Gretzky bring him closer to Gordie Howe’s all-time record of 801 goals. Gretzky needs 16 goals to surpass Howe.

“I’m getting excited,” Gretzky said. “It’s only 15 to tie now. I’m starting to get there. Obviously, there’s a good chance I’ll do it this year now. I’d like to break it this year.”

How does it compare to becoming the all-time leading scorer?

“Well, 1,852 (points) was pretty exciting,” he said. “I think this one will be more exciting because people thought this would never be broken.”

And so, the second half the season began positively on almost all counts. The Kings (18-21-4) are unbeaten in their last six road games and moved back into eighth place, the final Western Conference playoff position, with 40 points.

Goaltender Robb Stauber made 33 saves and the Kings’ specialty teams performed well. With their two power-play goals on Saturday night, the Kings have scored seven in their last three games. The Devils scored twice on the power play after Dixon Ward received a five-minute major and an automatic game misconduct for high-sticking forward Bill Guerin at 4:30 of the first.

But the Kings killed off the Devils’ final five power-play opportunities, including four in the third period. Typically, that’s when the Kings call upon Pat Conacher. But earlier, Conacher, playing against his former team, showed he is more than a checking center. He scored his eighth goal of the season, at 6:46 of the first period, while killing a penalty.

Conacher has more goals than teammates Warren Rychel, John Druce, Tony Granato and Shawn McEachern, among others. He was helped by linesman Gord Broseker, who accidentally set a pick on Devil defenseman Scott Niedermayer. Then Conacher went down the left wing and his shot hit the left post and trickled past Terreri.

“Gord should have got an assist,” Conacher said. “My eyes got wider when he bumped him. But they all count. Ten years from now, it will have gone in over his shoulder.”

Said Melrose: “Patty was great. If we played this team every night, he’d be unbelievable.”