There’s No Defense As Kings Lose : Hockey: Four-goal performance from Robitaille isn’t enough in 8-6 loss to Quebec.

QUEBEC CITY, Canada —  The obvious ingredients were all there, seemingly lined up in precise order for a King victory here on Thursday night.

Five power-play goals, one short of the club record. A four-point performance from Wayne Gretzky, who took sole possession of first place in the NHL’s scoring race. And left wing Luc Robitaille had a four-goal game for just the second time in his career.

Yet the Kings somehow managed to turn individual success into another collective failure, losing to the Quebec Nordiques, 8-6, before a crowd of 14,897 in a three-hour, 19-minute game marked by suspect officiating by the replacements. Once again, the Kings started slowly, falling behind, 5-0, by the 3:41 mark of the second period.

That’s the way it’s been for the Kings on the road all season. They are 2-9-1 on the road and are 9-11-2 overall, locked in a third-place tie with the San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division, a scant two points ahead of the expansion Mighty Ducks.

Despite the five-goal deficit, the Kings had the chance to leave Quebec with one point, scoring three third-period goals to pull within 7-6 before the Nordiques put it away with an empty-netter. Robitaille and Gretzky were the most obvious catalysts, but forward Jari Kurri had three assists and defenseman Rob Blake had a goal and an assist.

Robitaille, who went 14 games without a goal, now has six in his last two games.

Winning has proved to be difficult the last three weeks for the Kings. In their last seven games, the Kings have only one win. They’ve lost four consecutive games overall and five in a row on the road.

“We can’t remember a game where we weren’t at least down, 2-0,” Gretzky said. “Even going back to the Islander game. Our work ethic is there. There’s no magic formula. Nobody is going to hand it to us.”

And the early deficits are forcing King Coach Barry Melrose to change his plans as to how playing time is divided. Once the Kings find themselves behind by two or three goals, he can only rely on certain lines.

“When he’s got to get us back in the game, some players play more than others,” Gretzky said. “Others don’t get into the flow and maybe others play too much. We need to get ahead, so Barry can use everybody.”

Thursday, the early Nordique dominance helped Melrose decide who should not play. Defenseman Brent Thompson found himself greatly overmatched as he was on for two of Quebec’s first four goals. Left wing Valeri Kamensky embarrassed him one-on-one, going around Thompson in the left circle to put Quebec ahead, 2-0 at 8:08 of the first period.

“We got beat one-on-one a couple of times and that was the difference,” Melrose said. “He (Thompson) is a young defenseman and I didn’t want to put him in that situation again. And that was it.”

Goaltender Kelly Hrudey did not play long into the second period, either. He was pulled at 3:41 after allowing five goals on 18 shots, giving way to Rick Knickle, who made his first appearance of the season. Knickle faced 17 shots and allowed two goals.

King Notes

Coach Barry Melrose, who criticized the officiating in no uncertain terms on Sunday in Dallas, was given a warning on Tuesday night in Quebec by the NHL’s Brian Burke, according to sources. Melrose apparently was not fined.