Gretzky Works Out; Kings Worked Over

That noted scorer/enforcer Enrico Ciccone of Tampa Bay had just doubled his goal-scoring output--picking up his second goal in 46 games--to give the Lightning a four-goal lead en route to a 5-1 victory and the scoreboard screen quickly flashed a King fan holding a sign.

Seats For Sale.

Before the errant camera operator started scanning the job employment ads, the disloyal sight was gone. Some breakdown in security, right? A few miles down the road, this never would have happened at the Pond of Anaheim in the realm of Disney. There, even the Iceman was fired for merely being annoying.

Actually, the signs at the Forum during the first game of the Wayne Gretzky-less era were remarkably sparse as the Kings were routed Wednesday night.

The word sparse accurately described the crowd too. It can easily be said that there were fewer than 10,000 in attendance. The announced crowd was 11,405, and the Kings (18-32-15) were quick to put out the word that a small gathering had been expected even before Wayne Gretzky was traded to St. Louis on Tuesday night for forwards Craig Johnson, Patrice Tardif and Roman Vopat and two draft choices.

This was despite the Kings’ recent “stretch-drive push.” With so few people at the Forum, the building was chilly, not minus-99, but cold nonetheless. The mood inside the building was almost as frigid, a few catcalls here and there when the Kings were rendered ineffective on the power play and some derisive cheers when the Lightning scored two goals in a span of 25 seconds in the third period to take a 5-1 lead.

There was one sign supporting Gretzky about six rows behind the Lightning bench and another for the Kings in the same section. Perhaps the actual trade wasn’t as shocking since some sort of move had been expected for such a long time.

“It’s a bit like Back to the Future,” said longtime fan Jim Covial of North Hollywood. “It’s back to the ‘80s. But the game is greater than Gretz. I love the game. But the Kings seem like Stooges, they never seem like they’re making the right moves.”

Even before rumors of Gretzky being traded, there had been a great deal of fan discontent, a product of missing the playoffs for consecutive seasons and the lengthy delays in receiving playoff ticket refunds during two summers of ownership turmoil.

With Gretzky, the Kings were averaging 13,753, and that number is expected to dwindle after his departure, especially considering the loss to the Lightning extended the Kings’ winless streak to 10 games (0-7-3) as they are in a three-way tie in ninth place with Edmonton and Anaheim in the Western Conference.

While some have said that the loss of Gretzky could deal a huge blow to the Kings, player agent Ron Salcer of Manhattan Beach believes the franchise will survive.

“It seems like it has been cyclical,” said Salcer, who has been coming to games since 1975. “Now you see it on the wane in L.A., with losing Gretz and not winning. They [the Kings] need an identity, they have to develop an identity for some of their players.”

Obviously, winning helps solve those problems, and the Kings are struggling at home and on the road, with Gretzky and without him.

“He’s been here eight years,” center Kevin Todd said after the loss. “It’s a change when he’s not here. We’ve got to get over the fact he’s gone and he isn’t coming back. We’ve got to get over that.

“If you can’t work 20 minutes a night, there’s something wrong. This was mental, it’s not physical. We’ve got to get our mental game back.”

The Kings were playing without defenseman Marty McSorley, who is suffering from a contusion of his left leg. And left wing Kevin Stevens limped off, along with trainer Pete Demers, about midway through the third period. Stevens, suffering from a leg contusion, was taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary X-rays.

King Coach Larry Robinson, shivering himself afterward, not from the performance but the cold arena, was not particularly surprised by the lack of effort. The only King with any real sustained jump was left wing Dimitri Khristich, who had been at home during the recent trip because of a sore knee.

“Well, I said to myself, there are two ways they can react--they can come out flying, full of exuberance, or they can come out flat,” Robinson said. “They had no legs. Their brain said yes and their legs said no.”

Robinson said the arena was not the only quiet place on Wednesday.

“It [the dressing room] was fairly quiet, which you would expect,” he said. “Guys don’t know the new guys. It’s always a funny thing. I told them there’s nothing we can do about anything that went on before. There might be mixed feelings about what went on. But it’s up to us to prove we’re a good team and we didn’t prove that tonight.”

The players were particularly subdued at Wednesday’s morning skate, and one privately admitted that the loss of Gretzky would “kill us.” McSorley fondly spoke about his days with Gretzky, not only in Edmonton but their time together in Los Angeles since 1988.

“They didn’t have the jump tonight,” said King goaltender Kelly Hrudey, who faced 35 shots. “Hopefully we’ll come out with more emotion on Saturday. It’s been a very emotional time for us. You never want for excuses. But it’s been tough. You never want to say goodbye to a friend but that’s part of the game.”