Kings Get Push Into Playoffs : Canucks Eliminated by Loss to Hartford

The Vancouver Canucks went down fighting, but they did fall to Hartford Sunday afternoon, and that loss clinched a spot in the National Hockey League playoffs for the Kings.

The Canucks came back from a 5-1 deficit to pull within one, but the Whalers poured it on in the third period to win, 7-4.

The Canucks (26-43-8) will play the Kings at the Forum Wednesday and again Sunday at Vancouver in the last game of the season.

Vancouver has been a pesky opponent, and their late-season surge may have been the push the Kings needed to lift their level of play.

“I think our team was going to come around anyhow,” Coach Mike Murphy of the Kings said Sunday. “But Vancouver gave our team a bit of a shove in the right direction. The complacency fell out.”

The Kings had a chance to clinch the playoff spot Saturday night against Calgary, then squandered a 3-1 lead in the third period and lost, 4-3. But don’t suggest to Murphy that the Kings backed into the playoffs.

“By no means did we back in,” Murphy said. “We are still eight points ahead of them. Their destiny was determined a while back.

“I have a real good feeling about the team right now. They like each other, there’s harmony. I’m not at all discouraged (about the loss to Calgary). Now I can prepare them for what I expect the Oilers to do.”

First-place Edmonton is the likely opponent for the Kings. The Kings are 2-3-1 against the Oilers this season and play host to Edmonton next Saturday night, their final home game of the season.

“You’d have to be crazy not to respect the Oilers,” Murphy said. “They can put any five guys on the ice and beat anybody. But I don’t think they are the team they were three years ago. I don’t mean that we are cocky.”

Far from it. Most of the Kings seem delighted to have made the playoffs, after a topsy-turvy season. For those players who may be celebrating this feat, Murphy has some sobering news.

“I don’t feel making the playoffs is a huge accomplishment; I think it was expected,” he said. “I often feel that some of our players think it was a great accomplishment. There hasn’t been enough pressure on them to win. I plan to put that pressure on them.

“We have to set our sights on advancing in the playoffs, winning the division and perhaps winning the conference title. Then we need to think about the Stanley Cup. That’s the way we should be thinking.”

Tickets for the Kings’ first two home playoff games go on sale this morning at 10 at the Forum and all TicketMaster locations. The first two games will be April 8 and 9 at Edmonton. The games at the Forum are April 11 at 2 p.m. and April 12 at noon.