Big Night for Gretzky, Kings : Hockey: He moves into second in the scoring race behind Lemieux with a goal and five assists in 9-2 victory over Islanders.

Maybe Wayne Gretzky heard Mario Lemieux talk the other day about wanting to win the NHL’s scoring title this season.

Gretzky certainly had something to say about that Thursday night in the Kings’ 9-2 blowout against the New York Islanders at the Forum before an announced crowd of 13,427. He produced a six-point game--one goal and five assists--for the first time since he did it against Detroit on Oct. 9, 1993, at the Forum.

For the Kings, the nine goals are a season high. Gretzky’s six-point performance helped break the Penguins’ domination of the NHL scoring race. Before Thursday, three Pittsburgh players--Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis--held the top three spots.

But Gretzky moved past Francis and Jagr into second place with 34 points, six behind Lemieux. Additionally, King forward Vitali Yachmenev took over the rookie scoring lead with two goals--his ninth and 10th--and an assist. He now has 20 points, one more than Ottawa rookie Daniel Alfredsson.

“Listen, I’m not going to roll over and die,” Gretzky said of the possibility of another scoring title. “It’s 80 games, you’ve got to go for it.

“I’m not going to say I can catch Mario or beat him, but I can give him a run. I’ll give it my best effort. If I don’t win it, it’s not the end of the world.”

King Coach Larry Robinson said Gretzky played one of his best games in the last five to six years Saturday in a 3-2 victory over the Penguins. Since then, the offensive momentum has continued. “We were having to hold him off on the bench because he wanted to get out there every second shift,” Robinson said. “You love to see it. It’s great. Marty [McSorley] stepped in there and led in his way. Everybody, to a man, played exceptionally well.

“I was especially pleased with the play of Steve Finn. He’s a godsend.”

Said Islander Coach Mike Milbury: “From the beginning, clearly we had some passengers. We did not pay any attention to defense, particularly early. Gretzky makes great plays when you give him the time and the space and we afforded him all of that.”

The Kings (9-5-5) dismantled the Islanders in all areas, save for left wing Wendel Clark’s very narrow third-period decision against McSorley, a spirited fight that lasted almost a minute. But McSorley edged Clark in an earlier confrontation.

Even the ugly new uniform couldn’t hide Clark from McSorley. McSorley went on a one-man hunting mission at the Forum, figuring if he could take out the heart of the Islanders, the rest would be easy.

But long before McSorley knocked off Clark’s helmet and flung him to the ice late in the second period, the Kings were already on their way to embarrassing the hapless Islanders, having chased starting goaltender Jamie McLennan.

McLennan lasted less than 11 minutes, having been pulled at 10:53 of the first, giving up three goals on six shots. Replacement Tommy Soderstrom mopped up and let in the other six.

You might say McSorley’s slam of Clark was merely the punctuation for the Kings. In addition to Gretzky, who has had an amazing 94 games of five points or more, there was balanced scoring.

Left wing Dimitri Khristich added two goals and Tony Granato had one goal and two assists.

As for McSorley, he stepped in with a goal and some muscle, looking a lot as he did against Clark and the Maple Leafs in the 1993 playoffs.

Of course, the Islanders (3-12-2) are not the Maple Leafs. If not for the miserable San Jose Sharks, they would be mired in the NHL’s basement.

King Notes

Defenseman Steve Finn, acquired earlier in the week from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for defenseman Michel Petit, made his King debut against the Islanders and wore No. 29. . . . Center Yanic Perreault returned to the lineup after sitting out the previous two games because of flu. Rookie defenseman Aki Berg was scratched from the lineup for the first time in his short NHL career. Berg has no goals, two assists and holds a minus-three rating in 18 games.