Officially, Kings Get Help Toward Victory : Hockey: Infuriated Ducks give up two quick goals after linesman’s late call in 5-1 defeat.

There aren’t many times when an NHL linesman emerges from virtual anonymity and takes it upon himself to make a decision to help determine a game.

For King fans, linesman Shane Heyer may very well have been the No. 1 star of the game. And for Mighty Duck fans? The No. 1 villain, perhaps.

Heyer’s surprising second-period call got the Kings going on their way to a 5-1 victory over the Ducks at the Forum on Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 16,005.

It was the Kings’ third consecutive victory over their new Southern California rival, and the teams are tied with 44 points each in the Pacific Division and share eighth place in the Western Conference. This was the Kings’ first victory after a five-game streak in which they had an 0-3-2 record.

After the game had long been decided, there was some cause for concern when King left wing Luc Robitaille was checked by Duck defenseman Sean Hill. Robitaille went into the boards feet first and appeared to jam his right foot. He had to be helped off the ice.

The injury was diagnosed as a sprain.

By then, the Kings were leading, 5-1, and Robitaille had contributed one goal and two assists. Goaltender Kelly Hrudey faced 44 shots and had a shutout going until Patrik Carnback’s goal at 10:01 of the third period. The third meeting between the Kings and Ducks was nothing like their two other games, which were tense, with one-goal outcomes.

But what proved to be the major turning point on Saturday was the unusual occurrence of Heyer alerting referee Kerry Fraser to a missed penalty several seconds after it happened. Play had stopped and Wayne Gretzky said something to Fraser and headed to the Kings’ bench at 7:34 of the second period.

Suddenly, Duck defenseman Don McSween was assessed a five-minute major penalty and an automatic game misconduct for high-sticking Gretzky. With a five-minute power play, the Kings promptly scored twice--on goals by Robitaille (28th of the season) at 9:54 and Rob Blake (12th) at 11:15--and took a 2-0 lead.

Duck captain Troy Loney had argued strongly when the penalty was announced, and the two goals only fueled the anger on the Duck bench. Immediately after the Blake goal, the Ducks were assessed a bench penalty.

“Well, you should go in and ask Wayne to see the cut,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “A five-minute major is when you cut someone maliciously. I wouldn’t even have called a two-minute minor in that situation.

“I didn’t see it at the time. Shane Heyer claims he did. Unfortunately, it completely changed the game because we were dominating them. You can’t have a linesman making a call when he’s not 100% sure. Wayne must have made the call himself. He said his gum was bleeding. Give me a break.”

Said King Coach Barry Melrose: “It was a good call. He was cut on the nose. I wouldn’t say he was (bleeding) profusely. I’d never lie about a thing like that.”

The Ducks had outshot the Kings, 15-4, in the first period. But the McSween incident kept the Ducks off balance, and they came out shaky at the start of the third.

Goaltender Guy Hebert was erratic, giving up two early third-period goals in 32 seconds to Tomas Sandstrom and Shawn McEachern. It was McEachern’s first goal since Dec. 31.

Dixon Ward scored at 4:01 for his second goal in two games, making it 5-0.

Hebert was pulled for Ron Tugnutt, having allowed five goals on 28 shots, including the final three goals on only four shots.

King Notes

Forward Gary Shuchuk collided with Duck defenseman Don McSween along the left boards and suffered a sprained left knee at 5:19 of the first period. He was taken to a hospital and will be re-evaluated today. . . . The other injured King is center Pat Conacher, who has missed consecutive games because of sore ribs. . . . The Ducks were without forward Anatoli Semenov, who had a sore left elbow after playing his first game on Friday night since dislocating it.

* MIKE DOWNEY: They are no longer the Kings of their town. C3