Hrudey Spectacular, Kings Tie Red Wings

King goaltender Kelly Hrudey will probably be seeing shots in his sleep for the next week . . . solo dashes from the likes of the Detroit Red Wings’ Paul Coffey, Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and the list goes on and on.

But Hrudey made 46 saves and it was enough to preserve the Kings’ 2-2 overtime tie against Detroit on Wednesday night. The announced crowd of 14,663 at the Forum watched a wide-open, highly entertaining game from the Kings and Red Wings, and a brilliant solo effort by Hrudey.

So, the Red Wings (58-13-6) won’t have a chance at tying the NHL record of 60 victories in a season, in Southern California. Detroit, which outshot the Kings, 48-24, remains stuck at 58 victories and next plays the Mighty Ducks on Friday.

In tying, the Red Wings--who lost on Tuesday at San Jose--averted losing consecutive games for the second time this season.

The only time Detroit has lost two games in a row was on Oct. 30 at Winnipeg and on Nov. 1 at Buffalo. Detroit left wing Bob Errey barely missed sealing the victory as his shot glanced off the right post with less than a minute remaining in regulation.

The Kings got goals from Craig Johnson (11th of the season) only 26 seconds into the second period on the power play, and the game-tying goal was from center Ian Laperriere (sixth) at 11:48 of the second.

Meanwhile, King General Manager Sam McMaster said he expects to sign his contract extension today in a meeting with team governor Robert Sanderman, saying that he foresees no problems in completing the deal, which will be for two or three years.

King Notes

Goaltender Jamie Storr, who has been with the Kings’ minor-league affiliate in Phoenix, has been given an indefinite leave of absence from the Roadrunners. His mother, Keiko, died on Wednesday after suffering an aneurysm on March 25. Storr has appeared in 46 games and is 22-19-4 with a goals against average of 2.99.