Once Again, Ducks Don’t Appear Mighty to Kings

While it may have taken three seasons, the Kings finally have found a proper use for the Mighty Ducks--a stop-gap, something of an antidote to halt the winless flow of games.

By defeating the Mighty Ducks, 5-4, Saturday at the Forum, the Kings got their first victory in three weeks and stopped a winless streak that had reached eight games. Meanwhile, the Ducks failed to maintain some momentum coming off an overtime victory against Vancouver.

Wayne Gretzky, who had one point in the previous three games, had four against the Ducks with a goal and three assists. Anaheim’s Paul Kariya scored his 26th goal of the season and added an assist.

The crowd of 15,629 watched the Kings (17-22-11) extend their unbeaten string against the Ducks (17-27-5) this season to 3-0-1 and also got to see the debut of each team’s third jersey. It was also left wing Kevin Stevens’ first game as a King after being traded from Boston for Rick Tocchet. He turned in a solid performance on Gretzky’s line along with Tony Granato and had four shots on goal.

Scoring for the Kings was Dimitri Khristich (his 16th of the season) on the power play, John Slaney (fourth), Jari Kurri (ninth) on the power play and Marty McSorley (eighth) on the power play. For Kurri, it was his 574th goal of his career, moving him past Mike Bossy into seventh place on the league’s all-time goal list.

“You hate to say it, but it was our whole year riding on one game,” Gretzky said. “We needed a win so desperately that a loss here and the next four days would have been awful going into Wednesday’s game. It would have been a horrible feeling.

“This is such a big win, and hopefully it will give us some confidence.”

Although the Kings let the Ducks creep back into the game with two third-period goals by Steve Rucchin (12th) on the power play and Shaun Van Allen (seventh)--cutting the lead to 5-4--goaltender Kelly Hrudey viewed it positively in the aftermath, saying the team responded to adversity.

“Winning 5-4 is good for this team,” said Hrudey, who was tested by the Ducks’ Todd Krygier before Philippe Boucher cleared him out with 1:15 remaining. “We proved we can give up a couple of goals and the whole roof isn’t going to cave in.”

Said Anaheim Coach Ron Wilson: “I think at times we tried to be too cute. Just like our jerseys, if you think our jerseys were cute. But we didn’t do the simple things well enough.”

By the time the Ducks stirred, the Kings had a 5-2 lead in the third period on McSorley’s goal at 6:30, a shot from the right circle. It came on the power play as the Kings were three for seven with the man advantage.

“I’m not sure what happened on it,” Duck goaltender Guy Hebert said. “One or two guys were really trying to kill themselves trying to block it. I’m not sure where it went, which is a bad sign.”

Stevens, who nearly scored in the game’s first 30 seconds on a partial breakaway, helped create chaos in front of the net on the power plays, and also drew two Duck defensemen to him in front on the Slaney goal.

“It looked like Kevin Stevens could have had five goals himself,” King Coach Larry Robinson said.

Stevens said he woke up almost thinking he was going to be playing against the Kings, not for them. He was pleased with the larger ice surface, the Kings’ style and the loose attitude of his new teammates.

“I wish I could have scored--yesterday was really the first time I skated in about seven days,” Stevens said. “I felt pretty good, just to get out there and create some holes and get some chances.”

Having suffered from back spasms the last couple of weeks, Stevens said he felt fine Saturday.

“I played through them [before] and I think half the back problem was the stress in Boston,” he said. “It went all the way down to my back. It’s felt better since I’ve been here. Maybe the sun will help.”

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Duck-King Notes

For the Kings, the healthy scratches were defensemen Aki Berg and Rob Cowie and forward Gary Shuchuk. Not playing for the Ducks were forwards Chad Kilger, Peter Douris (strained groin) and Patrik Carnback. King forward Kevin Todd, who sat out three consecutive games because of a sprained left ankle, returned to the lineup Saturday. . . . Wayne Gretzky’s representatives are scheduled to meet with King officials this week to continue contract talks.