Kings Take an Early Lead, Lose Another Game : Much-Needed Late Surge Fails to Materialize Again as L.A. Falls to Jets, 5-3

WINNIPEG, Canada — Those fans who leave the Winnipeg Arena at the end of the second period aren’t necessarily making a statement about the caliber of the play on the ice.

They’re going out to warm up the engine blocks in their cars.

The Kings could have used a similar electrical surge Friday night.

They blew a 2-0 lead and lost to the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3, before a crowd of 11,440, which would have been well-advised to drive their cars home at the end of the second period to watch the Tyson-Holmes fight on TV.

The Kings were behind at that point, 4-2, and--considering a season-long deficiency in such situations--seemed to have as much chance of making a successful comeback as did Holmes.

The Kings have trailed at the end of two periods in half of their 50 games.

They’ve yet to win one.

After the Kings had kept that inglorious streak alive, Coach Robbie Ftorek, oft-times short with the media in any situation, was more obstinate than usual.

Did he feel that his team was outmanned along the boards?

“No.”

Did he think the Kings had been outworked?

‘No.”

Were the Kings tired? They played Thursday night at Calgary.

“That’s an excuse.”

Later, he had an almost comical exchange with two Winnipeg reporters:

Reporter: “Did anybody in particular on the Jets impress you?”

“No. (Pause). It’s not an individual game. We talking boxing? Boxing’s an individual game. Hockey’s a team game.”

Second reporter: “Holmes lost.”

“Excuse me.”

“Holmes lost.”

“Whatever.”

“Just for your information.”

‘I don’t really care about it. But I appreciate it.”

After the press contingent from Winnipeg moved on, Ftorek, grumbling under its breath, said: “I don’t think they liked any of my answers.”

And Ftorek, obviously, didn’t like the result of this game.

“We could have made a statement,” he said. “This would have been three (wins) in a row, and we could have moved up in the standings. But we weren’t able to do it, so I’m disappointed.”

The Kings pulled to within 4-3 with 8:01 left on a goal by Jimmy Carson, who jammed a rebound into the net.

“I thought that would turn the tide,” Carson said.

Instead, Phil Sykes was called for interfering with Jet goaltender Daniel Berthiaume only 43 seconds later.

Winnipeg, which had failed to score on six previous power-play opportunities, ended that drought and made it 5-3 on a 30-foot shot from the left circle by Andrew McBain.

“The old saying is, ‘You forget about it and you go on,’ ” Carson said. “But we’re at the 50-game mark. We’d better go ahead more than we have been.”

The Kings, who are still last in the Smythe Division at 16-29-5, opened a 2-0 lead in the first 4 minutes 48 seconds on goals by Paul Fenton and Luc Robitaille, but the Jets tied it in the next 10 minutes, getting goals from Ron Wilson and Paul MacLean.

MacLean tucked a shot into the lower right corner of the net after outfighting Jay Wells for the puck behind the Kings’ net.

At 1:12 of the second period, Mark Kumpel brought the puck down the right side on a 2-on-1 breakaway and, attempting to feed Laurie Boschman on the left side, had his pass carom off the stick of King defenseman Dean Kennedy and into the net.

“Between me and Dean, we played that play perfectly,” said King goaltender Rollie Melanson. “I took away the shot and Dean took the other guy (Boschman) wide, but the puck just happened to bounce off of him.”

It was a bad break, but the Kings seemed to relax later in the period, giving up a goal that put the Jets in front, 4-2.

Fredrik Olausson took a pass from Wilson and skated all alone down the slot, faking Melanson off his feet and scoring easily at 12:12.

Only 7:48 remained before it was time to warm up the cars.

King Notes

The Kings are 0-23-2 in games in which they’ve trailed at the end of two periods. . . . Fifty minutes in penalties were handed out at the end of the game after Bernie Nicholls and Randy Carlyle got into a fight and several other players joined in. Grant Ledyard, who was given a game misconduct, was accused by Winnipeg Coach Dan Maloney of sucker-punching Carlyle while one of the linesman was holding Carlyle. “That will be straightened out Sunday,” Maloney. The teams meet Sunday for the eighth and last time this season . . . Lyle Phair was recalled from the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate at New Haven, Conn. Phair, who was up for 15 games in the 1985-86 season and 5 games last season, had 15 goals and 10 assists in 46 games at New Haven. . . . Ledyard, who has missed all but 17 games this season with an ankle injury, returned to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 20.

Mike Allison, scoreless in three games since his 10-game point-scoring streAk ended last Saturday night, missed the game with a groin injury. . . . Tom Laidlaw was scratched because of a charley horse. . . . At this point last season, the Kings had lost only one of their previous seven games and were 22-22-6, the last time they reached .500 in a 31-41-8 season. . . . About 125 members of the Kings’ booster club made the trip from Los Angeles for the two-game set. “I certainly wouldn’t spend my own money to come here in the winter,” said an amused Grant McGinnis of the Winnipeg Free Press.