It’s Ugly, but Kings Beat Capitals : Hockey: Fight in final seconds mars 5-3 victory that extends their unbeaten string to four games and evens their record at 10-10-1.

Steve Kasper scored on Washington’s empty net with 32 seconds left to wrap up the scoring in the Kings’ 5-3 victory at the Forum Saturday night, but the game wasn’t over.

There was still time for one last scuffle. The last in a long series.

As far as Marty McSorley was concerned--and many in the sellout crowd of 16,005 agreed with him--he would have been remiss to let Neil Sheehy leave the ice without paying for the way he had treated Wayne Gretzky, Bernie Nicholls, Luc Robitaille and the rest of the Kings throughout the evening.

So McSorley cross-checked Sheehy from behind, knocking him to the ice. And while Sheehy was face down on the ice, McSorley reached down and punched him.

It was not a pretty sight.

“A lot of things happen on the ice that don’t look good,” McSorley said. “A lot of things happen on the ice that aren’t felt in the stands, that aren’t felt in the pressbox, but are felt by all the players. . .

“I wanted our guys to know that after all the little things they took all night, I’m there for them. It is not open season on Wayne Gretzky and Bernie Nicholls. . .

“Yeah, I knocked (Sheehy) down, but he knew I was there. He turned away. I had confronted him, and he turned away. So I knocked him down. And then I drilled him--no, I didn’t drill him, I hit him. Nobody rushed him off to the hospital.”

Sheehy, who is 6-feet-2 and 210 pounds, had been giving the Kings’ stars trouble. And McSorley, who is 6-1, 230, takes that rather personally. Especially when Gretzky is involved, and Gretzky had picked up his only roughing penalty of the season trying to answer Sheehy’s roughness on his own in the first period.

As for whether McSorley had attacked Sheehy? McSorley said: “That wasn’t an attack. He was involved in a scuffle. He just wasn’t as involved as I was.”

Even the coaches were involved in the confrontations that turned the game into a marathon of mini-bouts.

But in the end, the Kings survived.

The Kings’ record went to 10-10-1 as they remained undefeated in four straight to take over sole possession of second place in the Smythe Division.

The Capitals dropped to 6-10-4.

It was a game played in spurts and spats. A little game action, a little jostling, a little jawing. And then, somehow, the Washington net would get knocked off its mooring, stopping play and sparking more debate.

The clock stopped for a couple of minutes toward the end of the third period while King Coach Tom Webster and Washington Coach Bryan Murray shouted and pointed at each other and acted as if they might climb the plexiglass between the benches to get at each other.

No, it wasn’t the Kings’ usual style, but it was interesting.

Readers of the Washington Post would have expected to see the “chippy” style that the Capitals play, the style that leads to short fuses, after seeing the comments that Murray made after practice at Culver City earlier in the week.

“I’m not encouraging (my team) to go out instigating fights,” Murray said. “I’m encouraging them to play a physical, solid type of hockey. So when teams play against us and go in to get the puck, they know they’ll pay a price. So if they beat a defenseman and get between him and the boards, they know they’re going to get hit. That goes a long way toward playing well and getting the overall play to a good level.”

Murray and Webster were not discussing styles of play when their war of words erupted. Said Murray: “Dave Taylor was gonna flip his mask down and I said to him, if you’re going to go after people, take your mask off. Don’t be pouncing on guys from the back while you wear a shield to protect yourself. And then Webster made a comment to me. That’s all.”

Webster shrugged it off as “Nothing big. The kind of thing that happens in the heat of battle.”

No, it was not the Kings’ kind of game, but, still, Gretzky was able to get two assists, helping on the two power play goals that gave the Kings their 2-2 tie after two periods.

A goal by Kelly Miller on the Capitals’ first shot, 7:24 into the game, gave Washington the early lead.

Bernie Nicholls tied it at 9:20 with a slapshot from the top of the left circle on the Kings’ first power play. Robitaille gave the Kings a 2-1 lead early in the second period with his first goal of the night, scored on a wide-open net after Washington goalie Don Beaupre left the crease to chase a shot by John Tonelli that Tonelli gathered up and sent out front to Robitialle.

Ciccarelli tied it before the second period was out. Geoff Courtnall had flipped the puck toward the Kings’ net, pulling goaltender Kelly Hrudey out to his right. Ciccarelli got to the puck in time to take advantage of the moment.

The Kings scored two quick goals at the start of the third period--Dave Taylor passing to Robitaille and getting it back for the score at 1:14 and Robitaille scoring at 6:16 on a pass from McSorley as he and McSorley and Nicholls all rushed into the Washington zone--but that was not a safe lead.

Dave Christian’s goal at 7:39 kept Washington in the game.

King Notes

The Kings will play at home Wednesday against the Chicago Blackhawks. In fact, the Kings will play their next six of seven at home. . . When Dave Taylor scored in the third period Saturday night, it was his first goal in 15 games. That is the longest stretch without a goal of Taylor’s career. . . Going into Saturday night’s games, Wayne Gretzky led the National Hockey League in scoring with 40 points (including 30 assists, which is also best). Mario Lemieux of Pittsburgh had 34 points. . .. The annual Skate with the Kings outing is today from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Culver City rink. Tickets are $8 for King booster club members, $10 for non-members.