Kings Give Up Six in a Row and Lose Sixth in a Row, 8-6

Positive developments at the Forum on Tuesday night:

The Kings’ power play.

Basically, that’s it.

They have scored nine power-play goals in three games, including four against the Winnipeg Jets. But there’s that nagging problem of playing at even strength, which forced the Kings to unravel once again, this time in an 8-6 loss to the Jets before a sellout crowd of 16,005.

This was despite a stellar effort by Wayne Gretzky, who had a four-point performance on two goals and two assists. Late in the third period, Gretzky was the momentum behind the Kings’ futile comeback as he set up Tony Granato (his 1,600th career assist) and scored himself in the final six minutes to pull the Kings within 7-6.

Granato scored on the power play--what else?--at the 14:00 mark of the third for his first goal in 18 games, ending the longest slump of his NHL career. Then Gretzky banked a shot off a Jet defenseman to cut the deficit to one goal at 16:40.

With 1:52 remaining, King Coach Barry Melrose pulled goaltender Rick Knickle for an extra attacker and the best scoring chance came from defenseman Dominic Lavoie, who was stymied by Jet goaltender Bob Essensa. The suspense ended when the Jets scored an empty-netter by Randy Gilhen with 34 seconds remaining.

“This was a disappointing loss because it came at a key time for our hockey club,” Gretzky said. “It’s probably even more disappointing because we came out and played so hard and were up, 4-1. We don’t have anybody to blame but ourselves.

“We can’t continue to play the way we have and expect to win.”

Unfortunately for the Kings, one good period of a hockey, plus six minutes at the end wasn’t quite enough.

The Kings (9-13-2) have lost six consecutive games, are 1-8 in their last nine and remain in 10th place in the Western Conference, three points behind ninth-place Winnipeg.

“The worst thing we could do is say we’re going to be there at the end,” King left wing Luc Robitaille said. “We won’t be there if we say that.”

Unlike their losses on a recent four-game trip, the Kings actually led, 4-1, before giving up six unanswered goals, including three by center Alexei Zhamnov. That forced Melrose to make a goaltender switch. He pulled Kelly Hrudey and replaced him with Knickle after the Jets made it 7-4 at 1:39 of the third. Hrudey gave up seven goals on 25 shots and it was the second time he has been pulled in last three games.

It was a strange up-and-down game. Winnipeg actually switched goaltenders two times, pulling starter Essensa at 13:47 of the first period after Mike Donnelly made it 4-1. Stephane Beauregard played the rest of the period and the Jets climbed back into the game, then Essensa came back for the final two periods.

King Notes

Defenseman Alexei Zhitnik sat out Tuesday night, serving an indefinite suspension for cross-checking Montreal center Guy Carbonneau in the face on Saturday. Zhitnik received a five-minute major for high-sticking and an automatic game misconduct. His hearing, in front of NHL Senior Vice President Brian Burke, will be held today in New York with King General Manager Nick Beverley representing him there. Zhitnik will be on a phone hookup from Los Angeles. “A couple of guys told me, ‘Maybe you’ll be suspended,’ ” Zhitnik said. “Nobody knows. I asked, ‘For how long?’ ‘Maybe just for one game.’ ” Zhitnik wasn’t quite sure what happened before the incident. “I saw someone coming, but I can’t say who,” he said. “I know it was somebody. I just protected myself. He was (coming) full speed.”

Owner Bruce McNall recognized the frustrations during the 16-day walkout by the officials, who reached a tentative settlement with the NHL on Tuesday. “I think you saw some of the coaches, including ours, take advantage of the situation,” he said. “It happens in the frustration of the game. It’s easy for players to lay the blame (there). . . . (The officials) ended up with a lucrative situation. It’ll be good for them and the league.”