No More Kid Stuff for This King Rookie : NHL playoffs: Defenseman Rob Blake, 20, is proving himself under pressure after beginning the season at Bowling Green.

Rob Blake is nervous. Nervous when he steps out on the ice to play hockey. Nervous even when he steps out on the ice to practice .

That’s understandable. He’s a 20-year-old who was playing defense for Bowling Green when the year began.

Now he is putting his skates on for the Kings in the Stanley Cup playoffs next to Wayne Gretzky and Larry Robinson, whom he once dreamed of meeting.

Pretty heady stuff for a kid from Simcoe, Canada, and he’s feeling it.

“I’m too nervous in practice to handle the puck,” he said. “But once you get on the ice, you’ve got to play the game. You can’t worry about being nervous, thinking, I’ve got to pass to this guy. Better make sure it’s on his stick. You’ve just got to do what got you here.

“It probably won’t sink in that I’ve been here until I get home this summer and talk to my family. Right now, I walk around in a daze sometimes.”

Not on the ice. Blake scored the only King goal Thursday night as the Calgary Flames won, 5-1, in Game 5 of this best-of-seven, opening-round playoff series.

The Kings still lead by a game with Game 6 tonight at the Forum.

“I just got a lucky bounce off the boards,” Blake said, “and I happened to be in the right spot. It got a monkey off my back because when I call home, all everyone wants to know is if I scored.”

That might be the concern back in Ontario, but the Kings are more concerned with Blake stopping the other side from scoring.

And so far, they are impressed.

Asked about the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Blake, Cap Raeder, who coaches the defensemen and goalies, shakes his head in wonder.

“He has just played outstanding,” Raeder said. “He’s got a great head on his shoulders. He’s got size and he’s just what we needed, a right-handed shooter with good mobility.”

Blake, a 1988 fourth-round draft choice, was recently signed to a two-year contract with an option year after getting 23 goals and 36 assists in 42 games for Bowling Green.

Giving up his final year of collegiate eligibility to sign, Blake was brought up for the last four games of the regular season by the Kings.

With nothing left to be decided in the standings, it was as close to a pressure-free atmosphere as Blake was going to find in the NHL.

That was two weeks ago.

In the interim, the Kings’ defense, weak during the regular season, has been weakened further in the playoffs by injuries.

Gretzky’s back got the headlines, but defenseman Tom Laidlaw’s back problem has drawn much concern in the locker room. He hasn’t played since March 17 and won’t play tonight.

Bob Halkidis was knocked out of Game 3 because of a sore shoulder. He is expected to return tonight. Tim Watters was sidelined in Game 4 because of a severe ankle bruise and is doubtful for tonight. Robinson was hit in the back Thursday night but practiced Friday, despite some soreness.

So suddenly, Blake has been thrust into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

From no pressure to high drama.

“It’s one step to go from college to the NHL,” he said. “It’s another to go from the NHL to the playoffs. The speed, the strength and the intensity are all greater.”

If Blake is intimidated, fellow defenseman Robinson hasn’t noticed.

“He has accounted for himself really well,” Robinson said. “He’s done everything. He’s big, strong, moves the puck well and seems like he has a great attitude.”

Robinson laughed when told Blake still gets jittery.

“So do I,” said the man who is appearing in the playoffs for the 18th time. “It all depends on how you handle it. If you have it work for you, you’ll be all right.”

Gretzky is also impressed.

“I don’t even know what to say about the guy,” Gretzky said. “This kid has great skills and is tough. I don’t know if he even knows how good he’s going to be.”

Imagine what Blake will be like when he gets over his nerves.

The Flames, facing elimination Thursday night, shook up all four of their lines.

Will the Kings counter?

“We won’t change our lines,” said Raeder, indicating that, instead, his team will concentrate on taking advantage of the home team’s right to make the last line change before faceoffs.

“We just didn’t stick to our game plan,” he said. “Maybe we thought we could open it up after we had 12 goals Tuesday.

“We were our own worst enemy. They came at us, and we didn’t come at them. You’ve got to remember, they are a solid, great hockey team and they came out hungrier than we did. They finished their checks, and we didn’t finish ours.”

King Notes

The faceoff tonight is at 7:30. . . . Should the Kings win this series, they would be only the fifth team in NHL history to oust defending Stanley Cup champions in consecutive seasons. The Kings eliminated the Edmonton Oilers last year. The other four teams to accomplish the feat were the New York Rangers in 1932-33, the Montreal Maroons in 1934-35, the Detroit Wings in 1941-43 and the Rangers again in 1972-74, the latter two clubs ousting defending champions in three consecutive seasons.