Kings Keep Getting By With Gretzky

DALY CITY, Calif. — Cancel the retirement dinner. Hang onto the gold watch.

Wayne Gretzky will be with us awhile longer.

A few weeks ago, Gretzky had said that, if his numbers didn’t improve, he would consider retirement after next season.

Since then, those numbers have shot up dramatically, putting Gretzky back where he has been for most of his incredible 13-year career, atop the NHL scoring list.

He had three assists Wednesday night as the Kings hung on to beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3, before a sellout Cow Palace crowd of 10,888.

It was the Kings’ sixth victory in a row, moving them only six points back of the Smythe Division-leading Vancouver Canucks. The Kings are 30-24-13.

The three assists give Gretzky the league scoring lead with 103 points, one more than Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues.

The final assist Wednesday was the 1,500th of Gretzky’s career, meaning his assist total is higher than the point total of everybody else in NHL history with the exception of Gordie Howe, Marcel Dionne and Phil Esposito.

“I’ve really kind of picked up my play a notch,” Gretzky said.

Hard to argue that point with a man who has 24 points in his last nine games. “I’m feeling a lot more comfortable,” he said. “I’ve always taken a lot of pride in assists. I’ve always said they were as important as goals. But I’ve played with some pretty good guys over the years.”

Tony Granato’s 35th goal, with an assist from Gretzky, on a power play at the 8:27 mark of the third period proved to be the difference.

At the time, it didn’t look that important considering that it gave the Kings a 4-1 lead over the Sharks, 14-46-5 and 1-9-1 over their last 11.

But the Kings should have known better. They had gone into overtime in both their previous games here, getting a split.

This time, Jeff Odgers’ sixth goal and J.F. Quintin’s third cut the margin to a single goal with 4:40 to play.

But Kelly Hrudey hung on to improve his record to 21-12-12.

Paralleling the Kings’ rise in the standings has been the rise of the team’s power play, from 20th in the 22-team league all the way up to 13th.

The improvement has been slow, but steady. The Kings have scored at least one power-play goal in 19 of their last 21 games.

They scored three Wednesday night. Corey Millen (15th goal of the season) and Jari Kurri (21st) got the other two, both with assists from Gretzky.

The other Kings’ goal came from Tomas Sandstrom, his 15th goal and fifth in the six games since his return after a 26-game absence because of a partially dislocated shoulder.

The other San Jose goal was accounted for by David Bruce, his team-high 20th.

With 13 games to play, do the Kings have a realistic shot at the Canucks, who have played two fewer games?

“It’s in the back of everybody’s mind,” Hrudey said. “But I don’t think we should get carried away. There’s still a month to go. A month ago, we were in fifth place and not looking too rosy. We know how fast things can turn around.”

King Notes

Wayne Gretzky is hopeful the strike authorization vote being approved by the players this week will carry enough weight to move negotiations with the owners off dead center. “There has been no talking going on,” he said, “no real head-to-head negotiating. That’s what everyone wants. We don’t think anyone wins with a lockout or a strike. The game has been great to me. But we’ve got to think of the future guys coming up. I’ve got nothing to gain. I make the most and I would lose the most. But as a union, we’ve got to stick together.”

Defenseman Paul Coffey missed his second straight game because of a flare-up of the back injury that has plagued him on and off for five weeks. . . . Fellow defenseman Charlie Huddy was out with a strained shoulder. . . . Center John McIntyre suffered a strained back in the second period and did not return. . . . Goalie Steve Weeks missed his second consecutive game because of a sore back, leaving Darryl Gilmour as the backup. . . . Forward Corey Millen returned after missing one game with a sore shoulder.

Dave Tretowicz, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound defenseman for the U.S. team in the Winter Olympics, has been signed to a three-year contract by the Kings and sent to their Phoenix Roadrunner farm team.