THE NHL : He Has Some Big Skates to Fill

Once again, the name Dionne blared over the Forum’s public-address system.

Once again, Dionne skated down the Forum ice, swung his stick and triggered the red light.

But this Dionne drew no cheers from the Forum fans.

This Dionne drew only scattered boos from a decidedly pro-King crowd.

It was not Marcel Dionne back in action Saturday night, his retired sweater off the Forum wall and back on his back.

This was Gilbert Dionne, younger brother of Marcel, who was the Kings’ all-time scoring leader after a 12-year career in Los Angeles. Gilbert, 21, is in his first full season in the NHL as a left wing for the Montreal Canadiens.

Playing for Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League two years ago, Dionne put up the kind of numbers his brother was known for, scoring 48 goals and 105 points in 64 games.

Montreal made the 6-foot, 194-pounder the 81st pick in the 1990 entry draft and sent him to Fredericton of the American Hockey League, where Dionne scored 40 goals and totaled 87 points in 77 games.

This season he was off to an even faster start for Fredericton, with a team-leading 19 goals and 46 points in 29 games.

The Canadiens had seen enough. They called Dionne up in late December. In 26 games for Montreal, he has scored 14 goals and totaled 24 points.

There have been some impressive nights. He had a hat trick against the Minnesota North Stars and at least one point in 12 of 16 games going into Tuesday night’s game against the New York Islanders.

But nothing could rival last Saturday night. There he was, in an arena he had never seen before, thousands of miles from home, looking at a sweater on the wall bearing his name.

“It was pretty intimidating,” Dionne said. “When I jumped on the ice for the warmup, I looked for the jersey. I couldn’t find it at first.

“Then, all of a sudden, I saw it glowing in the spotlight. It just hit me in the heart.”

Dionne wanted to respond with a goal. It appeared that he had done so on a second-period power play when he deflected Denis Savard’s shot into the net. But the replay judge ruled that Dionne’s stick was illegally above his shoulder when he made contact with the puck, negating the goal.

No problem.

Dionne scored his 14th goal during the third period.

“Maybe Marcel’s ghost is still here,” Dionne said. “I had a little bit extra in my stick tonight.”

It was nice playing in the glow of that name on the wall, but Dionne doesn’t want to make a habit of it.

“I want to make a name for myself,” he said. “I don’t always want to be in his shadow.”

Buffalo Sabre goalie Clint Malarchuk has made his share of big saves.

But the biggest saves of his life were made by others.

Earlier this season, Malarchuk foolishly mixed alcohol with a pain-killing drug, creating an almost disastrous combination. It momentarily stopped his heart and left him in the hospital for several days.

It wasn’t Malarchuk’s first brush with death.

During the 1988-89 season, Malarchuk was involved in a collision on the ice. As a result, he was inadvertently cut by a skate, severing an artery in his neck.

Only quick action by Sabre trainer Jim Pizzutelli prevented Malarchuk from possibly bleeding to death.

In the early 1980s, then in the Quebec Nordique organization, Malarchuk and another goalie, Brian Ford, went on vacation.

“We were both single and in Hawaii, on the beach looking for girls,” Malarchuk told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “All of a sudden, there were no girls.

“They were all gathered around Arnold Schwarzenegger. . . . We were just standing there watching (when) Brian kicks sand on him.”

His mischievous deed done, Ford took off, leaving a stunned Malarchuk standing there, face to face with the actor and bodybuilder.

“I remember he looked at me, and I just stood there and hoped he’d think it was an accident,” Malarchuk said. “And it wasn’t even me who kicked the sand. I felt like the old Charles Atlas stuff of the bully kicking sand on the 90-pound weakling, only in reverse.”

Schwarzenegger didn’t pursue the matter.

Another big save for Malarchuk.

Quotebook: Viktor Tikhonov, coach of the Unified Team in the Winter Olympics and the long-time Soviet coach on the breakup of his squad: “The NHL talent raids are comparable to a thief stealing the best things from your house over and over.”