Kings Lose Again in Playoff Quest

The most promising development on Monday--other than Wayne Gretzky’s latest milestone, his 2,500th point--came from Southern California where the Mighty Ducks prevented the Sharks from expanding their one-point lead over the Kings in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Certainly, the Kings have been doing almost nothing to help themselves, losing five consecutive games. The latest setback was a 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames at the Olympic Saddledome before 20,010, and it was their fifth consecutive road loss as well.

It is the first time the Kings (13-20-7) have lost five in a row since a stretch from Feb. 12-21 last season. Of course, that didn’t happen during an alleged playoff drive.

“Everybody else is keeping us in it,” King defenseman Rob Blake said. “It’s time we do something. We’ve lost, what, five games in a row? Most of the time, you wouldn’t even stand a chance. As bad as we’re playing, we’re still in it.”

On the flip side, the Mighty Ducks may have assisted the Kings temporarily but drew within a point of them, along with the Winnipeg Jets. Now, the Kings have to be worried about the sight in the rear-view mirror as well.

“Now we’re in a dogfight,” said Gretzky, whose 2,500th NHL point came at 11:01 of the first period as he set up Blake’s goal with a pass from the right corner.

“We’ve gotten ourselves out of holes all year and now we have ourselves in this predicament. To be sitting here is a horrible feeling. It’s just not good at all.”

Gretzky, the league’s all-time point leader, couldn’t exactly revel in the accomplishment.

“Those are things I’ll look back later when it’s all over,” he said. “Right now, the only concern is to get in the playoffs. . . . The first (point) is one I’ll never forget. I remember the first of everything, even my first penalty. I got the first penalty in Oiler history.”

Meanwhile, the Kings showed improvement on a couple of fronts but it didn’t matter. After scoring two goals in three games, they scored twice--Blake had his second and Gary Shuchuk had his third of the season.

Blake’s goal ended a King goalless streak of 124 minutes and 21 seconds, going back to the first period on Wednesday against the Flames.

And goaltender Grant Fuhr turned in his sharpest game since the Kings traded for him in February.

Fuhr replaced a subpar Kelly Hrudey early in the second period and was flawless in his 37 minute, 29 second performance, making 16 saves.

For the division-leading Flames, Theoren Fleury and Joe Nieuwendyk each had four points. Fleury scored twice--his team-leading 27th and 28th goals of the season--and added two assists. With Fuhr pulled for an extra attacker, Nieuwendyk scored an empty netter with 5.6 seconds remaining and earlier had three assists.

By the time Fuhr entered the game, the Kings were trailing, 4-1.

Blake blamed himself for the Flames’ third goal, a giveaway to the side of the net to Fleury for his second of the game, at 17:10 of the first.

“It just rolled off my stick,” he said. “It figures it would happen right beside our net. Those are the kind of mistakes we can’t afford. A 2-1 game is 3-1 and you can’t do that in a visiting building. . . . Things have gone bad this year.”

And there was more of the same off the ice. Right wing Rick Tocchet, who on Sunday appeared in his first game since April 1, was unable to play. His back, already quite sore after the Shark game, stiffened on the plane ride Sunday night.

And Tocchet was clearly in discomfort by Monday--even walking, much less skating. It is uncertain how many games he will be able to play in the final stretch, the remaining eight games.

King Notes

Defenseman Marty McSorley’s teammates have been teasing him about his motion picture debut in “Bad Boys.” McSorley’s appearance was brief but that did not stop the Kings from recently writing their own reviews on the team’s message board in the dressing room. Wrote one unidentified King: “He was great, just ask him.”

As expected, right wing Kevin Brown (hip pointer and sore left knee) did not play against the Flames. Brown, injured last week against the Flames, has missed two consecutive games. He is on the trip but is questionable for Wednesday’s game against Edmonton. . . . Enforcer Troy Crowder received a five-minute major and automatic game misconduct at 13:19 of the second period for slashing Flame forward Theoren Fleury. Fleury was cut across the bridge of his nose and spilled a pool of blood in the right circle. The Kings, however, killed off the ensuing power play. . . . Defenseman Denis Tsygurov has been a healthy scratch for three consecutive games.