Kings Lose Game but No Ground

Goalie Grant Fuhr admitted he is “lost at sea,” the Kings were outshot, 40-27, and they lost to a team they might meet in the first round of the playoffs.

Still, the Kings didn’t lose much Friday night in falling to the Calgary Flames, 7-4, at the Olympic Saddledome.

They lost no ground in the Western Conference playoff race--they’re still tied for sixth with Vancouver--and goalie Kelly Hrudey gained a much-needed night off, which could be more important later than a defeat was Friday.

After injuries forced him to dress eight players who started the season with Phoenix of the International Hockey League, King Coach Barry Melrose hoped that in its second game in two nights, his team would simply show some tenacity.

The Kings did that, pulling within 6-4 at 8:04 of the third period after Phoenix recall Jeff Shevalier scored his first NHL goal, and they were poised to strike again when they got a power play at 9:03. They lost that advantage, however, when Marty McSorley was assessed a double minor for high-sticking Ron Stern, setting up Theoren Fleury’s power-play rebound goal with 7:44 to go.

“All we said today was I wanted everyone to come in and work hard,” Melrose said. “We have so many new guys, young guys, all I wanted to see was that they worked, and they did.

“They made some mistakes, and against Calgary, when you make mistakes, they end up in your net.”

Those mistakes ended up in the Kings’ net three times in the first period, including two goals on successive shots within 45 seconds in the last two minutes.

The Kings cut their deficit to 3-2 25 seconds into the second period, when Eric Lacroix took a long lead pass from McSorley and beat Trevor Kidd to the glove side for his eighth goal, but the Flames struck for two more quick goals, by Robert Reichel at 1:09 and Paul Kruse at 1:25.

Fuhr, making his first start since an 8-2 loss at Dallas on March 6, is 0-5-1 with a 6.14 goals-against average in eight appearances with the Kings.

“I’ve always been someone who’s had to play a lot to play well, so it’s turned into an adjustment and it’s not going very well yet,” Fuhr said. “I’m just not comfortable. I’ve got no rhythm. It seems like I make the tough saves but I give up the easy ones.”

“It’s like being lost at sea, being in a raft. It’s all instinct now, no confidence, no feel.”

Melrose said Fuhr’s performance was “fine,” but acknowledged a fine effort wouldn’t have been enough to keep the Flames from winning for the sixth time in seven games and increasing their Pacific Division lead over the Kings and Vancouver to eight points.

“We would have needed a great effort. We would have needed some big saves,” Melrose said. “But we also have to play better in front of him. We had some breakdowns in front of him.”

McSorley claimed his double-minor was unwarranted, and was called because of his tough-guy reputation rather than because of anything he did to Stern.

“He had stitches in his eye and he opened it up on his own (to induce bleeding),” McSorley said. “He rubbed it, absolutely. I don’t know whether I put the fellows in a bad position.”

Bad, but not terrible.

“We were up against the wall tonight, especially with the injuries we’ve had,” said Wayne Gretzky, whose two assists gave him 2,498 career points. “Calgary played very well and we didn’t quite catch them but we kept coming back. You don’t like to lose but you can’t be unhappy about the effort.”

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King Notes

The Kings signed right wing Vitali Yachmenev, their third-round pick in the 1994 draft. Yachmenev, who signed a two-year deal, had 53 goals and 105 points for North Bay of the Ontario Hockey League. He will report to Phoenix. . . . Right wing Rick Tocchet, who has missed three games because of a back strain, won’t play Sunday at Anaheim. Rob Blake, who left Thursday’s game after feeling tightness in his groin muscle, is likely to sit out a week. Jari Kurri (groin strain) is questionable for Sunday. . . . Chris Snell’s short-handed goal was his second of the season.