On This Date in Sports January 27, 1982: Fit to be Tied
In collaboration with the sportsecyclopedia.com
The Los Angeles Kings rally to the Philadelphia Flyers 4-4 at The Forum in Inglewood. The Kings get two goals in the final minute to earn the tie, as Marcel Dionne scores with 43 seconds left and Larry Murphy scores with 11 seconds left. It is the sixth consecutive game to end a tie for the Kings, setting an NHL record. The Kings would finish the season with a record of 24-41-15. They would qualify fourth in the Smythe Division and upset the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs.
With the shootout following a five-minute three-on-three overtime, ties are no longer a part of the NHL's regular season. Teams now get a point for being tied at the end of regulation. However, ties were part of the NHL landscape as overtime was not reintroduced into the regular season until 1983.
The Los Angeles Kings were not a good team during the 1981/82 season but had a clear path to the playoffs as they resided in the same Smythe Division as the Colorado Rockies, a lame-duck franchise that would move to New Jersey at the end of the season. Most nights, defense and goaltending abandoned the Kings, as they allowed 369 goals on the season, ranking 20th of 21 teams.
The Kings were not playing well in January of 1982. Parker MacDonald was fired on January 13th as Don Perry took over coaching duties behind the bench. Since December 15th, the Kings had just one win and sat at 13-26-10. However, the losses turned into ties under Perry, starting with a 3-3 draw in Vancouver against the Canucks, on January 15th, in Perry's second game.
Following the tie against the Canucks, the Kings earned a 4-4 tie against the Colorado Rockies and a 3-3 tie against the Minnesota North Stars. The Tie streak continued with a 3-3 tie in Colorado and a 5-5 tie in Vancouver. The Kings had a 15-game winless streak, with seven losses and eight ties as they were set to host the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers came into the game with a record of 28-17-3 for Pat Quinn. The Kings lost to the Flyers 5-3, three weeks earlier at the Spectrum.
The game was chippy, as the Flyers and Kings combined for nine penalties in the first period. Darryl Sittler gave Philadelphia a lead at 6:44 before Larry Murphy tied the game five minutes later. Greg Adams gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead with 5:40 left in the first period. The second period would be played much tighter, as Steve Jansen scored the equalizer.
In the third period, Reggie Leach scored a power-play goal, beating Mario Lessard to give Philadelphia again the lead. The Flyers appeared to have the win sealed as Ray Allison scored with 63 seconds left to build a 4-2 lead. However, Marcel Dionne scored his 31st goal of the year with 43 seconds left. The Kings continued to push and tied the game on a goal by Larry Murphy slid the puck past Rick St. Croi to tie the game with 11 seconds remaining.