Kings Cap a 12-Day Trip by Beating Whalers, 7-1 : Hockey: Kurri scores twice as L.A. goes 2-3-1 on journey after starting it with two losses.

HARTFORD, Conn. —  Bold and old slogans--”No More Mr. Nice Guy”--and an assertive new uniform design were supposed to give the Hartford Whalers an air of superiority this season.

But with only three victories, the confidence already has evaporated here. The Kings sensed this and took advantage, knowing they could punctuate this long trip with a happy ending.

The Whalers complied after putting up some resistance in the first two periods, and the Kings went on to a 7-1 victory at the Civic Center before 9,244.

The Kings (7-4-1) finished this 12-day trip at 2-3-1 after opening with two losses. Hartford (3-8) has won only one of six home games.

Saturday, the Kings’ top offensive players administered the opening blows against the Whalers. Jari Kurri scored twice and assisted on Luc Robitaille’s goal to give the Kings a 4-1 lead after two periods. Tomas Sandstrom helped chip away with one goal and one assist.

That set the stage for the late third period, when the Kings’ untraditional goal scorers broke through. With 2:46 remaining and the Kings’ short-handed, Marty McSorley blasted a slap shot from long range past goaltender Frank Pietrangelo on the glove side.

Then Warren Rychel skated past a couple of Whalers and flipped the puck by Pietrangelo from the edge of the right circle. Earlier, King goaltener Robb Stauber’s bid for a shutout ended when defenseman Zarley Zalapski beat him with a one-timer from 30 feet out at 15:19 of the second period.

Still, the one goal didn’t stop Hartford Coach Paul Holmgren from stating the obvious.

“I was embarrassed in the third period,” he said.

King Coach Barry Melrose was more charitable, saying: “It wasn’t easy at all. When it was 2-0 and 3-0, Stauber had to make some pretty good saves. Pietrangelo gave up a couple of soft ones at the end, but he battled really hard early.”

Even the dormant King power play came to life against the Whalers. Heading into Saturday, they were 22nd in the league, converting eight of 69 attempts for 11.6%. Only two teams had less success--San Jose and Hartford.

The Kings were two for 10 on the power play and the Whalers went one for nine. King left wing Tony Granato, who had two assists, said that their penalty-killing helped deflate Hartford.

“We really frustrated them,” he said. “When your power play doesn’t get any opportunities and it can’t even get it out of the zone for 1:30, it frustrates them. At the same time, they lost (John) Cullen, their big scoring leader--and you did see them deflate.”

Cullen was assessed a game misconduct and a five-minute major when he high-sticked McSorley across the nose at 8:46 of the second period. McSorley himself received a six-day suspension on Saturday for cross-checking Darren Banks in the face during Thursday’s game against Boston.

“I think mine looked worse (Thursday),” McSorley said. “But I think the instances were the same. They were both accidental. He (Banks) has got a swollen eye, and I think I’ve got a broken nose.”

McSorley was upset that he couldn’t state his case in a hearing with NHL President Gil Stein. The hearing would have been on Saturday in Ottawa, forcing McSorley to skip the Hartford game, he said. So McSorley waived the hearing.

Melrose held a team meeting to discuss stick-related fouls and pointed out that the league is cracking down on those incidents.

Nevertheless, the Kings won’t lose McSorley for any games and return to Los Angeles in second place in the Smythe Division, one point behind Calgary.

King Notes

Sitting out were right winger Dave Taylor, center Pat Conacher and forward Bob Kudelski. Taylor also sat out the first game of the season, but hadn’t been scratched since. Conacher hadn’t been out of the lineup all season, while Kudelski has been in and out. The three sat out to get defenseman Peter Ahola, rookie center Robert Lang and recently acquired left wing Lonnie Loach in the lineup.

* EXACTING A TOLL: Marty McSorley is suspended by the NHL for six days and will lose $14,630 in docked pay and fines, but won’t sit out any games for the Kings. C12