Robitaille Helps New Jersey Win

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —  All his life, Luc Robitaille has waited for those precious moments when the puck comes his way.

And he’s made the most of them. Especially this season, as he leads the NHL with 25 goals.

But when the puck came his way in the closing minutes of Friday night’s 7-5 loss to the New Jersey Devils at the Meadowlands Arena, Robitaille was less than thrilled.

Horrified might be a better word.

Why?

Because he wasn’t in the game at the time. Not officially, anyway.

Robitaille had jumped onto the ice on a line shift, but the departing line wasn’t off yet.

So when the puck hit him in the skates, the Kings drew a penalty for having too many men on the ice.

New Jersey scored on the power play at 17:37, scored again on an empty net in the closing seconds and went on to win a game during which they trailed, 5-3, in the third period.

“The puck came right at me,” Robitaille said. “I didn’t want to hit it, but it was a reflexive action. It was a stupid penalty that shouldn’t have happened. It’s tough to take.”

Along with the game, Wayne Gretzky’s attempt to set a record for assists in consecutive gameswas lost. After collecting at least one assist in 17 consecutive games to tie a record he shares with Paul Coffey, his former teammate with the Edmonton Oilers, Gretzky was stopped Friday night, although he did score a goal to give him at least a point in 18 in a row.

“I really didn’t have too many chances,” Gretzky said. “But the biggest thing is, we blew a 5-3 lead.”

Most uncharacteristic. The Kings had been 10-0 when leading after two periods, and New Jersey was 2-10-1 when behind after two.

The Kings (16-13-3) had been playing particularly well lately, going 9-2-3 in their last 14 games. Their two losses had come against Edmonton, the Smythe Division leader.

New Jersey scored 43 seconds into the game on Aaron Broten’s seventh goal.

But the Kings came back to take a 2-1 lead on Robitaille’s 25th goal at 5:02 and Steve Kasper’s 10th at 17:30. Kasper also had three assists.

The Devils tied the score when the puck bounced off Brian Benning’s skates in front of the King net at the start of the second period. King goalie Mario Gosselin, getting a rare start, pushed it away, but not far enough. His effort left the goalie sprawled on the ice, and center Patrik Sundstrom took advantage to score his ninth goal of the season.

No problem for the Kings, the NHL’s top scoring team with 144 goals.

They struck back with two goals in the next 25 seconds. John Tonelli got his 16th from the slot and Keith Crowder followed with his first of the season on a breakaway off a face-off.

New Jersey defenseman Craig Wolanin also got his first of the season at 12:29 of the second period, but when Gretzky scored a short-handed goal, his 15th goal of the season at 7:48 of the final period, the Kings seemed in control at 5-3.

Guess again.

Sylvain Turgeon scored his 18th goal on a slap shot at 8:31, and Reijo Ruotsalainen scored his second of the season at 9:55 from the right side on a perfect pass from John MacLean.

The Kings again appeared to be in position to take the lead when Bernie Nicholls got free on a breakaway. He got to within a couple of feet of goaltender Chris Terreri. Nicholls wristed the puck, but Terreri blocked it, first with his arm, then with his glove as the puck seemed to hang in the air for an instant.

“I just tried to go to his left,” Nicholls said, “and then shoot between his legs, but he caught up with it.”

Robitaille’s costly penalty came at the three-minute mark.

Thirty-seven seconds later, the Devils scored the game-winning goal. Mark Johnson fired a slap shot that Gosselin came out to stop. The puck squirted to his left, but Gosselin’s momentum took him out of the net. Kirk Muller was in position at the left post to shove it in for his 10th goal, thrilling the crowd of 19,040.

Sundstrum scored again with three seconds to play, but, by then, the game had already been lost.

“It’s concentration,” said an angry Tom Webster, the Kings’ coach. “We played sadly. Our guy (Robitaille) left the bench too soon. It was a good call. The right call.

“You kill off the penalty, get a short-handed goal. Geez, that’s when you should bear down even more.”

King Notes

In improving to 14-15-3, the Devils won their third consecutive game after losing five in a row. . . New Jersey outshot the Kings, 35-28. . . King owner Bruce McNall said he is thrilled by the league’s decision earlier this week to expand by perhaps as many as seven teams in the 1990s. “I think it’s a major, major event for the league to agree to make such a step,” he said. “But the thing to remember is that the league has not said there will be seven new teams by the end of the decade, but that is their goal. There’s a big difference.” In other words, there’ll be more than 21 clubs by the turn of the century, but don’t bet on 28.