Perreault, Conacher Efforts Lift Kings : Hockey: McSorley also scores two goals in 6-2 victory over Ottawa.

Even in the midst of his anger, King Coach Larry Robinson managed to find two bright spots after a subpar performance in a loss to Calgary earlier this week.

“Yanic Perreault worked his butt off and Patty Conacher always gives you the same effort every night,” he said.

Two days later, their work and effort paid off in the Kings’ 6-2 victory over Ottawa on Wednesday. Perreault managed to break out of a scoring slump with his first goal in 18 games and added an assist.

Conacher’s contribution went beyond the scoring summary. His bone-jarring hit at center ice on Senator rookie right wing Daniel Alfredsson managed to pry the puck loose. King defenseman Marty McSorley pounced on it and raced down the right wing and beat goaltender Mike Bales between the pads with a shot from the middle of the circle.

McSorley’s short-handed goal--and his 300th NHL point--came at 5:50 of the second period and helped break open what had been a tense, edgy game for the Kings and goaltender Kelly Hrudey, who won his first game after going 0-3-1.

The Kings (13-12-6) went on to win for the first time in three games as Conacher’s hit stirred the team and the Forum crowd of 11,221, the smallest in more than seven years. It was the smallest since March 13, 1988, when 10,253 showed up for a game against St. Louis.

“[Alfredsson] beat me inside and I wasn’t going to let him beat me again,” Conacher said. “I stepped inside and we collided. It was a break and it went to Marty. We weren’t happy with the game we played in Ottawa. That kind of stuck with us.”

Said Robinson: “You like to try to pick someone who deserves to be out there and it’s always Patty.”

Conacher wasn’t the only physical King. McSorley, who scored twice, was at his fighting best with two spirited battles against Senator left wing Dennis Vial. McSorley was ejected with 5:29 remaining for instigating his second lengthy bout against Vial. Vial, who also fought Rick Tocchet, was given an automatic game misconduct for his third fighting major.

Even Wayne Gretzky threw a punch, following some sort of pattern against the Senators. Earlier this season, he caught an unaware Sean Hill with a punch and on Wednesday in the first period he hit Ted Drury with a left along the boards after Drury partially checked him. Curiously, there was no penalty.

“Isn’t he [Gretzky] leading the team in penalty minutes?” asked McSorley, laughing.

It was McSorley’s fifth two-goal game in his career and first since March 24, 1990. “I’m going to relish it,” he said.

Robinson had been looking for a lift when he called up minor leaguers Gary Shuchuk and Dan Bylsma from Phoenix. Whether it was that or simply playing the worst team in the league, the Kings showed more energy and jump as several players ended slumps.

There was Perreault. And Dimitri Khristich, who is suffering from a sore left shoulder, scored only his second goal in the last 13 games.

Hrudey, too, was relieved to finally record a win.

“Is it ever [a relief],” he said. “I thought I deserved to win in some of the other games. But tonight I started to be concerned if I was ever going to win a game. Winning is fun.”

King Notes

Forward Jari Kurri, suffering from blurred vision, visited the eye doctor for the second consecutive day and was kept out of the game as a precautionary measure. The other scratches were defenseman Steve Finn (pulled groin) and John Druce (pulled groin). Center Robert Lang was a healthy scratch.