Hrudey’s Heroics Save Day : Hockey: Goaltender stops Fedorov penalty shot, denying him fifth goal and preserving Kings’ 4-4 tie with Red Wings in Detroit.

What was going through King Coach Barry Melrose’s mind when the Detroit Red Wings were given a penalty shot with 1:08 left in overtime, by center Sergei Fedorov, no less?

“It’s like a man being led to the gallows,” Melrose said. “There’s not much light. You just hope your wife prays for you.”

The Kings were given a reprieve when ailing goaltender Kelly Hrudey got his right pad on Fedorov’s shot and deflected it away, preserving a 4-4 tie Sunday. Fedorov, who already had scored four goals, had the sellout crowd of 19,875 at Joe Louis Arena on its feet in anticipation of No. 5.

Since there were less than two minutes remaining, he was awarded the penalty shot by referee Don Koharski when King defenseman Michel Petit pushed the net off its moorings after a scramble.

On the penalty shot, Hrudey came out to challenge Fedorov, who kept the puck on his forehand, didn’t deke and aimed for the stick side. “He beat me there on the stick side real easy on the fourth goal, so you go back to the well one more time,” said Hrudey, who faced 49 shots and is suffering from flu. Said Fedorov, who scored four goals in a game for the first time: “I didn’t score on the penalty shot. I gave it my best offer. What could I do?”

Previously, he nearly did everything else against the Kings (3-5-3). After a horrid start in which they were outshot 13-0 in the first six minutes and 24-6 after one period, the Kings rallied from a 4-1 second-period deficit on third-period goals by Robert Lang, Randy Burridge and Dan Quinn. It was Lang’s second goal in two games and Burridge and Quinn scored their first goals as a King. Quinn’s tied the game, 4-4, at 14:10 of the third after he put away his second attempt alone in front of Detroit goaltender Mike Vernon.

Quinn celebrated as though he had won a playoff game. “I acted like a soccer player,” he said.

The first King goal of the game, at 18:16 of the second, was by a suddenly motivated Alexei Zhitnik, who added an assist and had nine shots on goal.

Perhaps Zhitnik is being pushed by trade rumors. Some credence was led to the speculation when King General Manager Sam McMaster watched the Sabres on Saturday at the New York Islanders and Sunday in Buffalo against the Bruins.

Sabre scouts Don Luce and Larry Carriere were at the King-Red Wing game. The major name being tossed around is 32-year-old Buffalo goaltender Grant Fuhr, former teammate and buddy of Wayne Gretzky and Marty McSorley. Three Kings have been mentioned--goaltender Robb Stauber, Lang and Zhitnik but the word is that the team is balking at giving up the 22-year-old Zhitnik.

In return, along with Fuhr the Sabres would send either defenseman Philippe Boucher, 21, or Denis Tsygurov, 23, and another player. Melrose admitted that the Kings have had discussions with the Sabres.

“We’re talking to Buffalo, but we’re talking to about eight other teams,” he said. “No, I don’t think a deal is imminent.

“The only way we trade one of those young defensemen is we get a great deal with Buffalo. The teams we talked to want those three young guys.’

“If we came close to a deal, we’d have to sit down and talk about it. Get together in a room and put it on the overhead projector.”

Said McMaster from Buffalo: “I think we would always have an interest in Grant Fuhr.”

Stauber, for one, wouldn’t mind a new address. “For my sake, I hope it does happen. They’ve got the best goalie in the game, but I think change is good. This may not happen, but I’m spinning my wheels here.”