Stauber Gets Angry, Kings Get Even by Beating Flames : Stanley Cup playoffs: Goalie answers challenge by Melrose and stops 28 shots for 3-1 victory in his first postseason game. Series is tied at two games apiece.

Robb Stauber’s psyche has been sliced, diced and second-guessed at least twice by Barry Melrose, a head coach who seems to be moonlighting as a head doctor.

One week, Stauber was not even on the Kings’ bench, having been demoted to No. 3 goaltender. But Sunday afternoon, Melrose put the team’s playoff chances on the line in Game 4 by starting Stauber, a playoff rookie. The gamble worked when Stauber stopped 28 of 29 shots to lead the Kings to a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames in their Smythe Division semifinal.

The best-of-seven games series is tied, 2-2.

Stauber was tested early--the sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum held its collective breath when he stopped Flame forward Theo Fleury on a two-on-one break 25 seconds into the game. The only shot to elude Stauber was defenseman Trent Yawney’s blast from the top of the left circle on a power play at 13:43 of the first period. That gave the Flames a 1-0 lead.

“It’s a gamble,” Melrose said. “Sports is a gamble. In Boston, (Brian) Sutter started (John) Blue. If he plays great, Brian Sutter is a genius.

“If he (Stauber) hadn’t played well, you’d be sitting here writing our obituary.”

Said Stauber: “I was a little bit nervous at the start of the game. But as soon as the national anthem started, I was actually smiling. I said: ‘This is great. This is no reason to be nervous. This is a great opportunity and make the best of it.’ ”

The intent behind Stauber’s demotion was to get him angry, which happened earlier this season when he went a month between starts. He played well after that prolonged absence, and Melrose and assistant Cap Raeder were counting on it happening again.

Stauber’s teammates were aware of the psychological games.

“Cripes, you couldn’t beat the kid in practice,” said center Corey Millen, who is one of Stauber’s closest friends on the team. “Barry was showing him he was (angry). Robb responded, and the last few days he was working hard. He’s a survivor. I’ve got to give him a lot of credit.”

Stauber was in the mood to forgive, especially after Melrose announced that he would start Game 5 in Calgary on Tuesday. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him,” Stauber said. “He is the one who gave me the opportunity in the first place, and he has stuck with me all year long.”

Said Melrose: “He was great. He came in in a tough situation. He was the goalie that I think he is.”

Veteran Kelly Hrudey had played in the first three games, and he hadn’t missed a minute of playoff hockey in the last two seasons. Melrose said Hrudey hadn’t played poorly, but he needed to make a move to shake up his team. He also shuffled lines, which failed to get any of the Kings’ big scorers on track.

Luc Robitaille, Wayne Gretzky, Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato are still without a goal in the series. Sandstrom, who had one assist, was the only one of the four to record a point Sunday.

“If you had told me we were tied, 2-2, and none of those guys had scored, I’d have said, ‘You’re nuts,’ ” Melrose said.

In this series, the Kings have scored 15 goals, and one-third of those have come from the defense. Jimmy Carson has four goals, and his output came in the first two games.

Sunday’s low-scoring game was more of a tight, grinding playoff game than the previous three. Defenseman Rob Blake played his best game of the series, administering a handful of crunching body checks. “I had something to prove to myself,” Blake said. “I haven’t had a good playoff series.”

Said Melrose: “He can become the best defenseman in the NHL. For 35 minutes today he was the best defenseman in the NHL.”

The Kings’ goals came from defenseman Alexei Zhitnik, Warren Rychel and Pat Conacher, who scored an empty-net goal with six seconds remaining when the Flames pulled goaltender Jeff Reese for an extra attacker.

Calgary’s best chance to tie the score came with 30 seconds remaining when defenseman Al MacInnis hit the outside of the left post.

“I thought the second period was our downfall,” Flame Coach Dave King said.

“We didn’t match up against them very well. Stauber played well. He played kind of a ‘must-win’ game. He handled the pressure well and was certainly a major factor in their victory.”

Right wing Dave Taylor left the game at 8:32 of the third period with a broken nose when Flame left wing Gary Roberts checked him from behind into the right-wing boards. Roberts received a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind and an automatic game misconduct.

Little can keep Taylor off the ice. He returned with 3:11 remaining, after getting treatment in the dressing room, and received an ovation. He helped the Kings protect their lead.

“This was the most grinding game,” Melrose said. “We needed to battle in the trenches, and we scored three goals and all of them were ugly. This was a real playoff style hockey game.”

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