FORCE NOT WITH KINGS IN LOSS : N.Y. ISLANDERS 1, KINGS 0.

Byline: Roger Phillips

Since the first day of training camp, Kings coach Larry Robinson repeatedly has beseeched his players to get the puck deep in the opponents' zone, to go to the net, to rely on brute force rather than on the finesse that is largely lacking on a team composed primarily of grinders.

Somehow, though, the message has not gotten through, and Tuesday night, the Kings (3-3-2) paid in the form of a 1-0 loss to the New York Islanders (4-4) before an announced crowd of 9,084 at the Nassau Coliseum.

Former Mighty Duck Joe Sacco's 70-footer early in the third period, the one bad goal Manny Legace has allowed in four appearances, was the difference. But Legace, who made 33 saves, was the last person deserving of blame.

``The commitment's not there,'' Robinson said. ``We've got some prima donnas that just aren't putting out. . . . We're all waiting on the outside with our sticks cocked, you know, `Hey, get me the puck.' That puck doesn't have legs. You've got to work and you've got to muck and you've got to grind and you've got to do what it takes to get the goals. And that means getting bumped and getting pushed and getting slashed and everything else in front of the net.''

The numbers don't lie. The Kings have scored six goals in the first four games of this five-game trip, and are 0 for 17 on the power play the past four games. They took just 20 shots at Tommy Salo, who recorded his third and easiest shutout this season, and they had a four-shot first period for the second consecutive game.

The closest the Kings came to scoring was with 6:15 left, when Rob Blake had a partial breakaway and fought off a hook to take a shot at Salo, who made the save. Blake lost his balance and slid into Salo, the rebound hitting his leg and entering the net. Referees Kerry Fraser and Blaine Angus waved off the goal, ruling that Blake's momentum had carried the puck into the net.

``I'm not going to argue with these guys anymore,'' Robinson said. ``That was their explanation. I've got to live with that.''

Blake, who suffered a multistitch gash below his left eye when hit by a puck in the final minute, was more concerned with the Kings' pop-gun attack and alluded to the absence of ailing center Jozef Stumpel, who has a hip-flexor strain.

``It's not something new,'' Blake said. ``It's been like this for a couple of years. Our No. 1 center is out and we don't have any depth to pick it up.''

The game's only goal came on an innocent play 2:01 into the third period, when Sacco fired a 70-footer that dipped as it reached Legace, who left just enough space between his legs to allow the puck through.

``Once in a while, you get a break like that,'' said Islanders associate coach Lorne Henning, running the team in the absence of coach and general manager Mike Milbury, who is in Austria negotiating with restricted free agent Ziggy Palffy.

Legace said, ``I saw it coming. I thought I was going to catch it in the belly. All of a sudden, it wasn't there anymore. It was the worst feeling in the world.''

But if the Kings had mustered even a minimal attack, it would have been an afterthought, with the postgame focus on Legace's sprawling stop of a first-period shorthanded breakaway by Sergei Nemchinov or his stop of Sacco's point-blank one-timer late in the game.

As time wound down, things only got worse for the Kings. Center Ray Ferraro took a five-minute spearing major with 1:41 to play, retaliating after being knocked to the ice by the Islanders' Bryan Smolinski.

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Photo

PHOTO (Color) Islanders defender Scott Lachance helps goalie Tommy Salo by clearing the puck away from the crease.

Mark Lennihan/Associated Press