Williams’ Words Worth a Lot; Kings Stun the Oilers, 5-2

EDMONTON —  Scrawled on a chalk board, in a corner of the visitors’ dressing room, were these words: “Your next effort may be the deciding one.”

The message was unsigned, but it was the work of the Kings’ very grizzled veteran, Dave (Tiger) Williams. The statement, punctuated with thick underlining and exclamation points, became the Kings’ rallying point Wednesday night.

Perhaps inspired by Williams’ words, they put together their finest team effort in defeating the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2, in front of 16,621 stunned fans at the Northlands Coliseum in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I think we played an excellent game tonight, I don’t know if we can play a better game, “ King Coach Mike Murphy said.

This King cohesion, which has been awaited since the start of the season and glimpsed during it, surfaced at the right moment, giving the Kings a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. They play the Oilers here again tonight before returning for games in the Forum Saturday and Sunday.

The Kings accomplished several things Wednesday night that they had seldom been able to do in the regular season. Ranked 20th in the league in penalty killing, they killed three of four Oiler power plays, including a 5-on-3.

And, again unlike their regular-season performance, the Kings both held a lead and played a strong third period, scoring three goals.

The King forwards, who had been checking as if made of porcelain, turned aggressive and took on the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Paul Coffey.

Messier and Gretzky were held to merely one point apiece.

The Kings’ checking and a tight defense befuddled the Oilers, whose play Murphy termed “flat.”

“That’s the best I’ve seen our team check lately, I’ll say that,” King forward Bob Bourne said. “You just have to be willing to take a beating.”

Bourne scored the Kings’ last goal, into an empty net at 19:40. But it was Williams, who admitted he was especially emotional before the game, who scored the go-ahead goal.

The Kings had come into the third period tied, 2-2. They immediately killed the double penalty and, little more than a minute later, Williams took a pass from Jim Fox and scored.

Williams’ victory dance was impressive, both in its zest and its originality.

“Anyone who doesn’t play with emotion at this time of year is in the wrong business,” Williams said.

Bob Carpenter scored at 13:36 to make it 4-2. By then, the Kings were concentrating on keeping the puck out of their zone, killing Edmonton’s spirit as well as the clock.

Murphy had predicted that both teams would get a lot scoring chances. They did. With a free-skating game, both the Kings and Oilers could thank their goaltenders that the score was even at 2-2 after two periods.

The Oilers opened the scoring just 64 seconds into the game--a familiar and bad sign for the Kings.

Glenn Anderson sent the puck across the slot to Randy Gregg, who put the puck into the corner of the net.

Gregg, a medical doctor, had retired earlier this season, then was talked into returning by Oiler Coach Glen Sather.

After a playing a solid season, Gregg separated his shoulder, missing the Oilers’ last 10 games. Wednesday night’s game was his first since March 17.

The Kings had a power play at 4:37, but Jimmy Carson’ hooking penalty 31 seconds later nullified the man advantage. However, they scored on their next two power plays, 28 seconds apart.

On the first goal, Bernie Nicholls passed to Dave Taylor from behind the net. Taylor had enough time to turn, set and shoot, beating Oiler goaltender Grant Fuhr.

The second King goal put them in front. Jay Wells’ slapshot from the point went between Fuhr’s legs to make it 2-1 at 15:56.

Later in the period, the Kings were on their way to killing a penalty when Anderson scored.

He had skated to a position nearly parallel to the King net and fired a shot. The puck rolled between goaltender Rollie Melanson’s skates.

“I do that play and 999 times out of 1,000 it won’t go in,” Melanson said. “I thought he (Anderson) was going to pass it out front.”

King Notes

King Coach Mike Murphy is still operating without a contract for next season. General Manager Rogie Vachon said there is a disagreement about money as well as the length of the contract, which the Kings have set at one year. “We’ll talk about it after the playoffs,” Vachon said. The Kings also need to hire an assistant coach. Vachon said the possibility of hiring former King Butch Goring is a remote one. . . . Oiler goaltender Grant Fuhr had experimented using a longer stick, but had little success and has gone back to his usual sticks. . . . In addition to KGIL (1260), tonight’s game will be broadcast on KNNY (1600) in Pomona. Tonight’s game will be telecast on Prime Ticket. . . . King center Jimmy Carson, who had 21 points in the final 18 games, was named rookie of the month.