Nicholls Quietly Does a Job on the Kings : Stanley Cup: Unhappy when traded away by L.A., he leads Oilers to 4-3 victory in Game 3.

By JERRY CROWE

April 23, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

EDMONTON, Canada — For a guy who reacted angrily when he was discarded by the Kings two years ago, Bernie Nicholls was surprisingly subdued Wednesday night after scoring the winning goal in the Edmonton Oilers’ 4-3 victory over the Kings in Game 3 of their Smythe Division semifinal playoff series.

“I can’t let anything that happened in the past get in the way of my game, or interrupt my game in any way,” Nicholls said. “I’ve definitely put that aside and stuck to business. Come playoff time, it’s all business.

“And that’s the way you’ve got to go about it.”

Oiler Coach Ted Green, however, has detected a sense of urgency on Nicholls’ part as the Oilers attempt to eliminate the Kings.

“He’s got a chance to show his skills and his talents at a level he hasn’t (done) in the past,” Green said. “And because he’s playing L.A., he has a special feeling to play better, and he’s doing it.”

Nicholls scored two power-play goals in Game 3, giving him four in the series, an Oiler record.

“You’ve got the best in the world (former Oiler Wayne Gretzky) across the hall,” said Nicholls, who was surprised to hear that he has established a club playoff series record after only three playoff games in an Oiler uniform. “If (Gretzky) hasn’t done that, I’m more than honored.”

After scoring on a rebound at 14:53 of the first period to cut the Oilers’ deficit to 2-1 and adding an assist on a goal by Vincent Damphousse that pulled the Oilers even at 2-2 at 3:51 of the second period, Nicholls scored the winner on a shot from the slot with 7:23 remaining in the game.

Alone in the left circle, he took a pass from defenseman Norm Maciver, faked a shot to draw Kings’ goaltender Kelly Hrudey out of the crease and then fired the puck into the unguarded net.

“I don’t know what I was doing over there all alone,” Nicholls said. “I got the puck. I figured Kelly’s coming out at me and I faked the shot, or I just kind of pushed (the puck) aside, and I had an open net.”

He celebrated with what was called the Pumper-Nicholl when he played for the Kings, crouching as he skated toward the center of the ice while pumping his right first in the air.

Later, however, he was much less demonstrative.

“Come playoff time, you’ve got to put everything out of your mind,” he repeated. “If there was one team I’d just as soon put out of the playoffs, it would be the Kings, obviously. But playoff time is all business.”

Of the four World Hockey Assn. teams that joined the NHL at the start of the 1979-80 season, the Oilers are the only one that has never missed the playoffs. They are making their 13rd consecutive appearance, which ranks fourth among active streaks.

They have won the Stanley Cup championship five times.

“We’ve built up a good tradition in 13 years,” said defenseman Kevin Lowe, who has been with the Oilers since they joined the NHL but has been sidelined during this series because of a groin injury. “A lot of it has to do with the previous guys that played here; a lot of them are in Kings’ uniforms now. They played with a lot of pride.

“(General Manager) Glen Sather’s a big part of it. He played with a lot of (successful) organizations--the (Montreal) Canadiens, the (Boston) Bruins, the (New York) Rangers. When he came to Edmonton 14 years ago, he wanted to have that sort of tradition with the Oilers, and I think we have it.”

The only NHL team to make the playoffs in each of their first 13 seasons, the Oilers own the best winning percentage in playoff history. They have won 27 of 34 playoff series and almost 70% of their playoff games.

“The Oilers are more confident than any team I’ve ever been around in the playoffs,” Nicholls told the Edmonton Sun. “It’s just the way they talk. It’s the little things they say. And there’s a way they seem to get the resolve and effort out of everybody.”

Despite the Oilers’ tradition, ticket sales were slow in Edmonton this week. About 1,500 season-ticket holders failed to exercise their options on playoff tickets, and as of Monday, about 5,000 tickets remained for Games 3 and 4 of the opening-round series against the Kings.

The players’ strike was blamed.

“I’m sure the strike probably gave some people a reason not to show up,” said Bruce MacGregor, Oiler assistant general manager. “Some might have said they’ll be couch potatoes and watch on TV, and that’s fair.”

Apparently, other fans took their places, apparently. Game 3 wound up being a sellout.