Kings Play for the Future as Youngsters Get Audition

Most of the King farmhands who have toiled with the Long Beach Ice Dogs for much of the season held an alumni meeting Monday night and the entertainment was Luc Robitaille’s first three-goal game since 1995.

Then they watched one of their own, Jan Nemecek, score in a 4-3 victory.

“We said before the game that we didn’t want to be the first team to lose four times to these guys,” said Robitaille, who last had a hat trick on Feb. 16, 1995, when he played for Pittsburgh against Hartford and scored four goals.

It was the first Kings’ hat trick this season.

The Kings, who were mathematically eliminated from the Western Conference playoff race Sunday, were 1-3 against Nashville.

The play is over, so Monday’s game turned into something of an audition for Nemecek, Jaroslav Modry, Pavel Rosa and Jason Podollan, all of whom were Ice Dogs only days ago.

“These kids, they’re out here trying to show us they want to be here and they want to be part of the team next year,” said Coach Larry Robinson, who added that he was part of the evaluation process, whether he is behind the bench next season or not.

“I’m going about things as usual, as though I’m going to be here next year,” he said earlier in the day. “Until I’m told otherwise, that’s how we’re going to be playing things. I have to be honest with the organization.”

Though Dave Taylor, the team’s senior vice president and general manager has said no decision would be made on Robinson’s future until the season ends, that future and those of some players are expected to be on the agenda Thursday and Friday when team owner Philip Anschutz meets with executives of his properties, including the Kings, Galaxy and Staples Center.

“You always have something to play for,” said Robinson, who spent part of the night trying to sell that idea to a couple of veterans he would not name. “I see guys going out and not giving any effort, that doesn’t hold any ground with me, and I came close to benching a couple of guys.”

He would say only that he spoke to both players, and that they picked up their play enough to stay on the ice.

“You’re playing for the pride of winning,” Robinson said. “You’re playing for your job.”

Or to take their jobs, in the kids’ case.

Especially Nemecek, a defenseman who played for the Ice Dogs at Las Vegas on Sunday night, then learned that he quickly had to get to Nashville because defenseman Mattias Norstrom was going home with bruised ribs.

“I slept only about an hour and a half,” said Nemecek, who played 26 shifts totaling 20 minutes 23 seconds, including penalty-killing time during the game’s final 5:06.

Part of that penalty kill was when Nashville enjoyed a five-on-three advantage for 1:03. They failed to get off a shot, and Nemecek twice cleared the puck from the attacking zone.

“I was tired, but I tried to play a simple game: just get the puck and make a pass. . .” Nemecek said.

Oh, and shoot when you can.

“[Doug] Bodger told me to just make a wrist shot and I did and I scored,” he said of the game-winner, which gave the Kings a 4-2 lead at 3:40 of the third period.

By then, Robitaille had his hat trick, with two of the goals coming on power plays with units that were largely strangers. In both cases, Rosa sent him passes that were converted to goals. On the back line, in place of suspended Rob Blake and injured Garry Galley, were Modry and Philip Boucher.

“Our young kids played well,” Robitaille said. “That Nemecek, for a guy who just came up today, played very well, and so did Modry. That’s what I’ve been talking about. They want to show that they should be here [in the NHL] and they certainly showed that tonight.”

For all of that, the Kings still made it exciting.

The game’s final second featured a power-play shot by Sergei Krivokrasov that hit the post and dropped inches from the goal line, just behind outstretched goalie Stephane Fiset, long enough to be scooped away by Bodger.