CALLS IRRITATE ROBINSON AS KINGS LOSE TO DALLAS : DALLAS 4, KINGS 3.

Byline: Michael Rosenthal Daily News Staff Writer

Kings coach Larry Robinson not only questioned perhaps the biggest calls of his team's season, he questioned whether referee Bill McCreary should've come to work.

``He had a burr up his rear end when he came to the rink,'' Robinson said. ``Somebody didn't clean his water bottle right or something. He was yelling at everybody all night.

``Don't take it out on us. It's a big game.''

Well, it's debatable whether McCreary took anything out on anybody. What's clear is that key first-period decisions by the ref proved very costly as L.A. lost 4-3 to the Dallas Stars before an announced crowd of 10,047 Tuesday at the Forum.

In a roughly five-minute span, the Stars took a 1-0 lead when McCreary failed to stop play on a delayed penalty, and made it 2-0 on a power play after McCreary hit Robinson with a two-minute penalty for berating him and kicked him out of the game when he refused to stop.

The Kings rallied furiously, scoring three times in the third period. However, they were never able to catch the first-place Stars. It was their second straight loss and third in four games. They haven't beaten the Stars in 12 games.

``The first goal is always important. That's why I was so upset,'' Robinson said.

The dispute began when Jason Morgan took down Dallas' Pat Verbeek in front of the Kings net and McCreary signaled a delayed penalty, which doesn't take effect until a Kings player gains control of the puck.

Accordingly, goaltender Stephane Fiset went behind the net and touched the loose puck, which apparently caused many players on both teams to stop skating.

However, McCreary either didn't see Fiset touch it or believed he didn't have control of it and allowed play to continue. In an instant, Jamie Wright then stole the puck from Fiset and he passed to Verbeek, who slipped it into a wide-open net to make it 1-0 at 7:44 of the first period.

At that, Robinson screamed at McCreary to object and was hit with a two-minute bench minor. When Robinson continued his verbal assault, McCreary tossed him out of the game. On the ensuing power play, Joe Nieuwendyk scored when he one-timed a pass from Adams past Fiset to give the Stars a 2-0 lead only 35 seconds after the initial goal and that's the way the period ended.

Against Dallas, against goaltender Ed Belfour, a two-goal lead is huge. The Stars' were 27-0-6 when leading after one period coming into the game.

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Photo

PHOTO The Kings' Sean O'Donnell, left, and Dallas' Derian Hatcher are belly-flopped on the ice after colliding and can't reach the puck.

David Sprague/Daily News