ROBINSON'S KIDS BACK DOWN TO NO ONE.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

The Range Rovers in the parking lots of our stadiums and arenas speak to the peripatetic crowd inside. But sure as El Nino is changing our weather patterns, Larry Robinson's Los Ninos might yet cure us of our disposition toward arriving for games fashionably late and leaving early.

It's doubtful the 16,005 fans who eventually filled the Forum for the Kings' home opener against Ottawa Sunday ever warmed the back of their seats, so close to the edge did the Kings and Senators play it.

After the Kings' Yanic Perrault opened the scoring, the two teams were tied four times before crowd favorite Luc Robitaille gave the Kings the lead for good late in the third period of their 7-4 victory.

The result was a first, but everything else about the game followed the tight-fitting form the Kings (1-2-3) had bared in their first five games.

Neither plump leads nor fleshy deficits become them. Consider that in the Kings' first five games, they were on the ice for 318 minutes. For all but six of those minutes, they were either tied with or within one goal either way of their opponent. They went into the third period of four of those games tied.

It was more of the same for the first 52 minutes on Sunday as the Kings left themselves little room for exhaling. Perrault's goal was matched by Randy Cunneyworth. Ex-King Shawn McEachern's goal was answered by Craig Johnson. Perrault scored again, and dang if McEachern didn't have a snappy comeback in the form of his second goal of the period.

Rookie Don MacLean's first goal in front of the home fans was matched by Janne Laukkanen, setting the stage for Robitaille's star turn in his triumphant return to L.A. after spending one season in Pittsburgh and two with the New York Rangers.

The fans who arrived early enough to catch the Kings' pregame film montage on the jumbo scoreboard cheered hungrily when highlights of Robitaille's 1986-87 rookie season with the Kings flashed before them.

All the opportunities that had slipped away from the Kings during their five-game trip flashed before them when Laukkanen beat Stephane Fiset to tie the game at 4 with 11:44 left in the third period.

``When Ottawa tied it up there we felt a little urgency,'' Craig Johnson said. ``We knew we had to find a way to get the two points this time.''

No left winger has a better nose for the net than Robitaille, the highest-scoring player at his position over the past 11 seasons. Grabbing the spotlight that now is rightfully his, Robitaille pounced on a rebound that Damian Rhodes had kicked out to the left circle and froze Rhodes with a wicked snap shot.

That gave the Kings their fourth lead of the night. The question was, could they hold onto it this time? Jozef Stumpel, an offseason acquisition from Boston, provided the answer 21 seconds later, an emphatic yes that came screaming off his stick and beat Rhodes cleanly.

Stumpel's fourth goal and ninth point gave the Kings their first two-goal lead of the season. With his assist on Glen Murray's empty netter in the final minute, Stumpel also gave the Kings a four-point effort and their first league scoring leader since Wayne Gretzky departed in a huff in 1996.

Stumpel's 10 points moved him ahead of Gretzky (seven) and 14 other players, among them John LeClair and Eric Lindros of Philadelphia and Detroit's Brendan Shanahan.

If Stumpel ever starts looking for his shot, the rest of the league would do well to run for cover.

He had 11 shots in the first five games but seven of them came in the 3-3 tie against the Carolina Hurricanes. Stumpel, one of 14 Kings who is 25 or younger, had two shots against the Senators. If Robinson's will is done, there will be plenty more where those two came from during the remaining five games of this homestand.

``He's got a great shot,'' Robinson said. ``We've been trying to get him to use it.''

Patience, Coach, patience. Stumpel will not be rushed.

``Jozef's got a lot of patience,'' Robitaille said admiringly. ``He can hold the puck for the extra second so you can get open and he'll find you.''

A few more games like this and the Kings fans who fled when Gretzky was traded to St. Louis might start finding their way back. If they're lucky, they'll still be a seat waiting for them. Sunday's sellout was a valuable seventh man for the Kings, who fed off the crowd's enthusiasm.

It was also a rarity. The first 61 games of the NHL season drew only 20 sellouts, four of them in Colorado. In their first five games, the Kings played in front of crowds that fell a combined 31 percent short of capacity.

The Coolest Game on Earth could use a fresh angle, though we're not sure the woman who bared her breasts during a stoppage in play in the second period of Sunday's game is the answer.

``Oh my,'' Robinson said, chuckling, ``that'll bring the fans back, huh?''

If the Kings can exhibit the same heart and soul they showed Sunday, that should be enough.