Rangers’ Goal in Final Seconds Beats Kings, 6-5

Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne were skating for the New York Rangers, and Wayne Gretzky was skating for the Kings. But it was Ranger left wing Brian Mullen who became the hero before a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum Thursday night when he scored the winning goal with just 18 seconds to play.

And he scored it on a fluky shot. The puck was deflected by Ranger right wing Lucien DeBlois off the stick of King defenseman Doug Crossman onto Mullen’s stick, and Mullen then bounced it past a frustrated King goalie, Glenn Healy, who had come out to his right to play DeBlois’ shot.

But a goal is a goal is a goal, and it gave the Rangers a 6-5 victory that snapped the Kings’ 5-game winning streak. The Kings fell to 12-7, and the Rangers, the leaders in the Patrick Division, raised their record to 10-6-3.

Afterward, Mullen wasn’t trying to make the goal sound like anything more than a fluke.

“Chris Nilan carried the puck down the middle, gave it to Lucien, who took a shot that deflected off one of their defenseman, and it wound up on my stick. I put it into the empty net,” he said.

Ranger Coach Michel Bergeron said: “We played a hell of a game. Mullen checked Gretzky well in the second period, and (Tony) Granato did a hell of a job checking Gretzky in the first and third.”

Gretzky finished with 3 assists but no goals.

Bergeron added: “I had a dream this afternoon that I was coaching Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne when they were 26. I dreamed that we won, 7-3. And guess who scored all their goals? Wayne Gretzky. But this is much better.”

Granato and Kelly Kisio had scored consecutive goals for the Rangers in the third period to take a 2-goal lead. But King left wing Paul Fenton skated at Ranger goalie John Vanbiesbrouck and beat him with a shot while falling down to bring the Kings within a goal at 8:13.

Dale DeGray tied it, 5-5, when he took the puck down the left side, passed it to Gretzky and got it back, then put it past Vanbiesbrouck just before Nilan plowed into him and sent him to the ice.

There were about 3 minutes left, and the game appeared headed for overtime. But because of Mullen, it was not to be.

“Both sides played very well,” Kisio said. “We just got the lucky break at the end.”

In the first period, Bernie Nicholls opened the scoring with his 20th goal of the season. The goal, scored in his 19th game, tied him with Dionne for fastest 20 goals by a King. Dionne, who had 20 goals in the first 19 games in the 1981-82 season and who is still the Kings’ all-time leading scorer, was traded to the Rangers in March 1987.

Nicholls said: “I was fortunate to get to play with Marcel for 5 years. He’s a great hockey player. He and Guy Lafleur are both great hockey players. They’ve got nothing to prove out there. They’re both at the end of their careers, and it’s still a treat to see them play.”

Neither Dionne nor Lafleur got a point Thursday night.

Nicholls’ goal gave the Kings a 1-0 lead that held up until the Rangers scored 2 quick goals within the first 6 minutes of the second period.

The Rangers tied the game on a shot by Kisio from beyond the blue line at 4:50 of the second period, and they went ahead 34 seconds later when DeBlois tucked a rebound into the left corner of the Kings’ goal.

Ron Duguay picked up a loose puck and pulled the Kings into a 2-2 tie at 6:03. Then Nicholls scored his second goal of the night at 10:29 when he deflected in a shot by DeGray on a power play to give the Kings a brief lead.

But Ranger right wing Tomas Sandstrom tied it again, 3-3, on a goal, protested vehemently by Healy, which resulted from a scramble in front of the Kings’ net. Healy apparently thought that Sandstrom had kicked the puck in.

Healy, who faced 38 shots, seemed to be none the worse for a cut over his right eye that required 12 stitches during the victory over the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night.

The game was slowed by several little scuffles but only one all-out fight. Marty McSorley of the Kings was on the receiving end of the hardest punch of the night at 8:55 of the second period. He and Nilan each got a 5-minute fighting penalty.

It was a rough game all night, but, as Nicholls pointed out, the Patrick Division plays a rougher, more physical style.

“You have to give them credit, though. They played a physical game, but they also scored a lot of goals,” he said. “They played both ways.”

Dionne said: “I can’t remember the last time I was in first place. The team is better than last year. Our defense is much stronger. We’re scoring goals.”

But Dionne also gave credit to his former team, saying: “The Kings are a great team. I’ve watched them 4 or 5 times this year. . . . They have a chance to do very well.”

King Notes

Thursday night’s sellout was the fifth of the season for the Kings in their 11th home game. The Kings had a total of 5 sellouts last season. . . . With his assist on Bernie Nicholls’ goal in the first period, Wayne Gretzky kept alive his point-scoring streak, stretching it to 19 games. Gretzky has at least a point in every game for the Kings this season. . . . Bob Carpenter of the Kings jammed his ankle when he went into the Ranger goal post, feet first. . . . The Kings are 9-3 against teams outside the Smythe Division. . . . The Kings, the highest-scoring team in the league, have scored in 190 consecutive games. . . . One of the visitors to the Ranger locker room was Canadian boxer Donny Lalonde. . . . Marcel Dionne, for one, approves of the Kings’ new black-and-white uniforms. Dionne, who wore the old purple and gold King uniform for nearly 13 years, said: “The colors look a lot better.”