Kings Are Facing a Flameout : A Defeat Tonight in Calgary Starts Off-Season for L.A.

Win or lose tonight at the Olympic Saddledome, the Kings will board a charter flight back home to Los Angeles sometime before midnight.

Group plans beyond that will depend on how they fared earlier in the evening against the Calgary Flames, who lead their best-of-seven Smythe Division semifinal playoff series, 3-1.

A loss tonight will end the Kings’ season.

Coach Robbie Ftorek, though, prefers not to view this as do-or-die for the Kings.

“If we go out there and play the way we can play, with 20 guys for 60 minutes, we can win the next game, the next game and the next game,” he said, outlining the Kings’ only chance for survival.

Some of his players seem less convinced.

“Against this team, it’s going to take a minor miracle for us to come back,” Bob Bourne said of the deep and talented Flames.

Bourne, who helped the New York Islanders win four Stanley Cup championships before the Kings plucked him off the waiver wire 18 months ago, said the Flames remind him of those Islander teams.

“They’ve got big, strong forwards,” he said. “And their defense is better than any we ever had on the island.”

Still, the Kings threatened to even the series Sunday night when they overcame a 3-0 deficit and pulled even, 3-3, midway through the second period.

But, at 14:35 of the second period, a clearing pass by defenseman Jay Wells got caught up behind the Kings’ net. Calgary’s Tim Hunter gathered up the loose puck, brought it around to the left side and scored.

“We just died after that,” Bourne said.

At 16:05, the Flames scored again when Hakan Loob wristed a shot past the Kings’ rookie goaltender, Glenn Healy.

The Flames dominated the game from that point, adding a pair of third-period goals and clamping down on the Kings defensively.

Ftorek talked of his team’s fatigue, saying that he probably made a mistake by using the same lineup he used Saturday night. Calgary Coach Terry Crisp Sunday night used three players--Mike Bullard, Ric Nattress and Craig Coxe--who did not play previously in the series.

“I think I could have put some fresh bodies in there to keep in step with them,” Ftorek said.

Defenseman Tom Laidlaw said his legs got heavy in the third period but blamed that more on the circumstances of the game than anything else.

“We were no more fatigued than they were,” he said. “But once you get a lead, it’s a lot easier. You can play a simple game, just dumping the puck and making the other team go get it. But when you’ve got to make something happen, it takes a lot more energy.

“I was running around trying to do things, and I just ran out of gas.”

So did his teammates.

Ftorek said he was disappointed with the Kings’ effort after they fell behind late in the second period.

Hunter’s tiebreaking goal, described by Loob as “probably the biggest of the series,” need not have been so devastating, Ftorek said.

“Once a goal goes in, you’ve just got to forget about it, and go get the next one,” he said. “You can’t look back. It’s not going to help you.

“We didn’t jump right out and go right at them, but that’s the difference between a first-place team and a team that just gets into the playoffs. It’s something that you learn and you develop. It comes from inside.”

For the Kings, if it doesn’t come soon, their season will be over.

“I don’t think we’re as talented as they are,” Bourne said. “In fact, I know we’re not. But Robbie has made us feel that if he throws 20 players out there and they play hard, they can pull it out.

King Notes

Bob Bourne, who played 12 seasons with the New York Islanders before joining the Kings, said there is a “50-50 chance” that he will retire at the end of the season. Said Bourne, who will be 34 June 21: “I didn’t enjoy the year very much. We traveled so much in the first 3 months of the season, my kids started to resent it. I’m really close to them, and I just hate being away from them.” The oldest of Bourne’s two sons, Jeff, 8, is afflicted with spina bifida, an open spine.

Bourne was a rookie with the Islanders in 1975 when they rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a 7-game series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the next series, the Islanders again rallied from a 3-0 deficit, but lost in the seventh game to the Philadelphia Flyers.

If the Kings win tonight, Game 6 will be played Thursday night at the Forum. . . . Asked if he expected a rough, physical game, considering the Kings’ situation, Coach Robbie Ftorek said: “I just expect a hockey game.” . . . Ftorek, asked if he is happy with the team’s progress since he took over as coach on Dec. 9, told a Calgary reporter: “What’s the standing in the series right now? I’m not very happy with that. That doesn’t mean it can’t change, but we’re not real happy with it right now.”

Three straight victories would equal the Kings’ longest winning streak of the season. . . . The Kings, who chartered a flight out of Los Angeles Sunday night, practiced Monday at the Saddledome. The Flames, who stayed over in Los Angeles, arrived in Calgary on a commercial flight Monday night and did not practice. . . . Rookie goaltender Glenn Healy is expected to start again for the Kings. . . . Joe Mullen of the Flames, who missed Sunday night’s game with a bruised right knee, is doubtful for tonight’s game.

Former King coach Roger Neilsen, who was fired by the Vancouver Canucks in January of 1984, had a $173,500 contract settlement reduced to $64,364 by the British Columbia Court of Appeal on Monday. The appeal justices said the trial judge erred when he failed to take into account earnings Neilsen made with the Kings and Chicago Blackhawks after he was fired by the Canucks.