Oilers Put the Kings in Need of Miracle, 4-2

The Kings can probably start making their vacation plans for the off-season.

The Edmonton Oilers erupted for two goals in a 42-second span of the third period to beat the Kings, 4-2, Thursday night in their Smythe Division semifinal playoff game before 17,314 fans at the Northlands Coliseum.

The victory gave the defending Stanley Cup champions a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five National Hockey League series, which moves to the Forum Saturday night. The Kings must win three straight games to avoid being eliminated from the playoffs.

Asked if his team can do it, Los Angeles Coach Pat Quinn said: “Damn right we can.”

Three years ago, the Kings knocked off the Oilers after a stirring comeback in Game 3, but they’ll need an even bigger miracle this time.

The Kings have played two good games against he Oilers but are still winless.

“You have to face facts,” Quinn said. “We haven’t been good enough. We haven’t taken a point out of here.”

Said King center Doug Smith, who had one goal: “We’ll be back here for sure.”

The Kings would have to beat the Oilers twice in Los Angeles to force a fifth game at Edmonton next Tuesday night.

“Anything is possible,” Captain Terry Ruskowski of the Kings said. “It all depends on the homestand. We’ve got to take two games at home against them.”

Oiler goalie Grant Fuhr was little short of awesome, stopping the Kings on four power plays. The Kings have failed to score on nine power plays in the first two games of the series.

“We’re showing we can win the close-checking games as well as the shootouts,” Fuhr said. “That’s important at this stage.”

“Fuhr is playing as he did last year in the playoffs,” said King right wing Steve Shutt, who was robbed of a goal by Fuhr early in the third period. “I don’t know how much I missed by, but it wasn’t by much.”

The Kings have held Edmonton scoring star Wayne Gretzky without a goal in the first two games of the series. Gretzky has a total of three assists in the two games.

But center Marcel Dionne, the Kings’ leading scorer this season, doesn’t have even a point in the series.

With the score tied at 1-1 going into the third period, the Oilers got quick goals to take a 3-1 lead.

Right wing Mark Napier scored at 6:17 to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead. Mark Messier took the puck off the boards and hit the post on a shot, but Napier got the rebound and beat King goalie Bob Janecyk to the stick side.

Gretzky set up left wing Mike Krushelnyski for a goal at 6:59. Right wing Jari Kurri knocked the puck to Gretzky behind the net, and he maneuvered to his left and found Krushelnyski in front. Krushelnyski banged it in.

But Smith closed the score to 3-2 when he beat Fuhr to the glove side with 9:51 left.

The Kings pulled Janecyk for an extra skater with 52 seconds left, but Kurri scored an empty-net goal on a 50-footer with eight seconds left.

Trailing, 1-0, after the first period, the Kings tied it at 1-1 when right wing Dave Taylor scored off a rebound of a shot by Bernie Nicholls at 3:53 of the second period.

Ruskowski gave Nicholls a good pass in the slot, but Fuhr made a kick save on Nicholls’ shot. The rebound came to Taylor, and Taylor put the puck past Fuhr, who was sprawled on the ice.

Taylor had an apparent goal disallowed with 16:34 left in the third period after Fuhr made a glove save on a shot by rookie defenseman Craig Redmond but lost control of the puck. Taylor batted the loose puck into the right corner of the net, but the officials nullified the goal because Taylor’s stick was above his chest.

The Oilers scored on their first shot of the game and led, 1-0, at the end of the first period. Paul Coffey took a pass from Krushelnyski and beat Janecyk on a 30-footer just 1:10 into the first period.

The Kings outshot the Oilers, 16-2, in the first 10 minutes of the game, but Fuhr made some spectacular saves to keep them of the board.

Fuhr, who faced 16 shots in the first period, made three straight excellent saves with about 14 minutes left in the first period. He made a kick save on a shot by Jim Fox and gloved a rebound shot by Nicholls. Then Fuhr made a pad save on Fox’s rebound.

The Kings used Phil Skyes on Gretzky again. Sykes limited Gretzky to no goals and two assists in the first game.

The matchup heated up when Sykes hooked Gretzky with 3:16 left in the first period. Krushelnyski retaliated by pushing Sykes to the ground. Sykes and Krushelnyski each received minor penalties.

King Notes An Edmonton baker created a life-sized cake of Wayne Gretzky. The cake was perfect in every detail save one--it didn’t have a face. . . . A man calling himself Superfan paraded throughout the stands here with a megaphone with a red light on top of it. He should have been arrested for impersonating a goal judge. At one point he turned on the red light and was shouting at King goalie Bob Janecyk. . . . The Oilers made a scoring change from Wednesday night’s game. Gretzky was credited with an assist on the winning goal by Lee Fogolin at 3:01 of overtime. . . . The Oilers caught a charter flight to Los Angeles immediately after the game. The Kings were scheduled to take a commercial flight this morning. . . . The King scratches were Russ Anderson, Carl Mokosak, J.P. Kelly, and Rick Lapointe. Left wing Jaroslav Pouzar, right wing Pat Hughes and defenseman Don Jackson didn’t dress for the Oilers. . . . After the Oilers played to a full house all season, attendance at the Northlands Coliseum was less than full for the second night in a row. The crowd was 184 short of capacity after the team raised ticket prices for the playoffs.