STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS : Kings Lose Grip When Up by 3-2 : In 3 Playoff Games, They’ve Turned 1-Goal Leads Into 4-3 Defeats

Beware the 3-2 lead.

For the Kings, a 3-2 lead has a way of turning ugly. It starts out looking good, but it can’t be trusted. It’s two-faced. It’s slippery. It’s downright dangerous.

Three times in this National Hockey League playoff season, the Kings have had 3-2 leads. Each time they’ve lost, 4-3.

Three for three.

They lost to the Edmonton Oilers that way in Game 1 of their Smythe Division semifinal series. They took only two shots on goal after Mike Krushelnyski gave them the 3-2 lead with more than 17 minutes to play. When they let the game get away, they said the good news was that they learned from it.

They lost to the Oilers the same way, again, in Game 4. And they said that they did not mean to sit on a one-goal lead. But maybe they had. And they wouldn’t let that happen again.

But then they lost to the Calgary Flames in Game 1 of their Smythe Division final series Tuesday night after a one-goal lead. And they said that they understood the problem and they certainly wouldn’t let it happen again.

So what are the Kings going to do differently if they have the misfortune to take a 3-2 lead in Game 2 of their series against the Flames in the Saddledome tonight?

Well, once again they are promising to think offense, to keep trying to score. After all, they scored more goals than any other team in the NHL this season. They finished fourth in the overall standings--one point out of third place--by scoring goals.

Before skating onto the ice for practice Wednesday afternoon, Wayne Gretzky himself was saying: “At playoff time, you can’t change your system. You can’t change your style.”

So who’s telling the Kings to change their style midway through these playoff games? The coach?

“Exactly the opposite,” Gretzky said. “Unfortunately, the coach has taken some heat for those losses. . . . But it’s just human nature to not want to be out there when they get that third goal.”

It would be possible to defend a defensive strategy in the situation the Kings faced Tuesday night. There are precedents and truisms to be cited.

For one thing, playoff games are usually more defensive and lower-scoring than regular-season games.

For another, the Kings were almost able to pull it off. If they had held the Flames in check for only 96 more seconds, they would have won, 3-2. Then who would have second-guessed their play?

And furthermore, there’s something to be said for respecting the home-ice advantage of a team such as the Flames. Take a one-goal lead on their ice and don’t get greedy. Just escape with it, if possible.

But the Kings couldn’t defend their defensive strategy because they swear they didn’t have one. There was no plan to play conservatively, they said. It just happened. The players got tentative on their own, each in his own mind.

As Gretzky described the transformation that took place: “We were playing with fear of the fact that nobody wanted to take penalties. We’ve got to play hard and play physical. It if leads to penalties, we’ll kill the penalties. We need to play with a great deal of aggressiveness.

“Nobody wants to be the guy accused of being too offensive-minded or be the guy caught in too deep.

“We were tiptoeing around, not wanting to be the guy who lets it go to 3-3.”

In Marty McSorley’s analysis: “We were so obsessed with winning the game, we were willing to accept 3-2. . . . It’s a subconscious thing. We were definitely on our heels. Earlier in the game, whenever we felt we needed a goal, we got a goal. But then we didn’t seem to feel we needed to extend our lead. We need more of the killer instinct.

“In the (regular) season, we were happy to win, 9-7. But the thought is that in the playoffs, you can’t give up that many goals and win hockey games.”

Krushelnyski rejected the theory that playing to protect a lead is the same as “playing not to lose,” an axiom considered to be the opposite of “playing to win.”

He said: “What we have been doing is playing not to let our teammates down. Instead of going for goals, we’re thinking of helping out defensively. Maybe some of our players need to be a little bit more selfish.”

All of the Kings were puzzling over why their approach to the game seems to change once they get up, 3-2. Everyone was puzzling over why it has happened three times. And they insist it was not by design.

“Believe me, we’re trying to avoid that,” John Tonelli said. “Sometimes it takes a couple of times to learn things.”

Herb Brooks, former college, Olympic and NHL coach, was asked for his theory. Brooks, who is working as a SportsChannel commentator covering the series, said:

“It’s not an exact science, like football, where you can have a set plan for certain situations. When you lose the momentum, the human element comes in. The coach doesn’t want it to happen, the players don’t want it to happen. But it happens to all teams and all coaches from time to time. Nobody is exempt from losing momentum and losing the flow of the offense.” To a crowd of reporters gathered around Gretzky, picking apart theories and agonizing over how the Kings let a game get away, Gretzky said: “When you lose a playoff game by one goal and everybody wants to know what’s wrong with you, you know you’ve gained some respect.”

Word in the Kings’ dressing room was that Tonelli will be taking regular shifts tonight with his regular line for the first time in this playoff season. After illness kept him out of the first four games, Tonelli was used sparingly--”wisely” he said--as the coaches brought him back slowly.

Tonelli said Wednesday that he felt ready for regular shifts, but he would not confirm the plan to use him more.

“I hope that rumor is right,” he said.

Correction: Tonelli, 32, was incorrectly referred to in a recent article as the oldest of the Kings. He isn’t. Dave Taylor is, at 33. Taylor said that he understood how the mistake could be made.

“I told John you probably meant to call him the oldest-looking,” Taylor said.

Flame Coach Terry Crisp, on the shot by Tonelli in overtime that hit the crossbar so hard it ended up in the balcony seats: “I don’t remember J.T. shooting a puck like that. Boy, he must have spent a lot of time in the weight room down there in Southern California.”

King Notes

Tonight’s game will be televised on Prime Ticket and broadcast by KGIL (1260) and KORG (1190). . . . If this series goes to Game 6, that game will be played, as originally scheduled, on Friday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. There was a conflict with a possible Laker playoff game at the Forum that night, but apparently that game--listed on the NBA’s tentative playoff schedule as April 27 or April 28--will now be played on Thursday, April 27. . . . X-rays of the bone under Doug Gilmour’s eye were negative Tuesday night. Gilmour, who scored the winning goal for the Flames, was cut minutes earlier in the overtime by John Tonelli’s stick.