Road Ahead Looks Smooth for Kings : NHL playoffs: If top teams keep losing, Game 6 victory against Flames tonight could send them a long way into the postseason.

The Stanley Cup magic has disappeared in Chicago--at least for this season--and it’s ever so close to evaporating in Detroit. Even the Vancouver Canucks, prohibitive favorites against Winnipeg, could not put away the Jets on Tuesday night.

Which all means that the Kings are on the verge of finding themselves in an ideal position. A victory against the Calgary Flames tonight at the Forum in Game 6 would clinch their Smythe Division semifinal in the best-of-seven series, providing a chance to take advantage of the openings created by the first-round upset and possible other surprises in the Campbell Conference.

If this sounds familiar, well, it happened two years ago. In 1991, St. Louis also had a hand in the dirty work, clearing Detroit out of the way while Minnesota knocked off Chicago in the first round. The Kings missed a great opportunity to advance, however, by losing to the Oilers in a second-round series.

King owner Bruce McNall sat back, chagrined, and watched Minnesota nearly defeat Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup final. That, of course, was the formative stage of the Penguin dynasty.

Could have. Would have. Should have.

The phrases have almost always been associated with the Kings. Now, there’s a chance to take advantage of a relatively open field, which could widen even more should Detroit and Vancouver lose in the first round.

But that’s getting ahead of this first-round series, which the Kings lead, 3-2. They haven’t won a round in the playoffs since defeating Vancouver in a Smythe Division semifinal in 1991. Calgary, however, is fighting more of an inglorious past of late, failing to win a playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup in 1989.

“Your team can be confident,” King Coach Barry Melrose said. “But I can’t be overconfident and you can never relax, as a coach, until you’ve won. We’re not going to do anything different. They aren’t either. This is the 13th time we’ve played each other. It will come down to goaltending and execution.”

Counting the regular-season series and the playoffs, the Kings lead the Flames, 6-5-1. Still, the Kings and the Flames are similar in that both have both erratic all season. Calgary has been explosive at times, and its offense has been silenced in other games.

As for the Kings, they received scoring from the likes of checkers Warren Rychel, Pat Conacher and defensemen Charlie Huddy and Marty McSorley before the gang of four--Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, Tony Granato and Tomas Sandstrom--broke through in Game 5.

Actually, the most encouraging news for the Kings came from a decidedly uncertain air in the Calgary camp on Wednesday. Left wing Gary Roberts, who missed Game 5 because of an injured foot, practiced at the Forum but did not do any cutting or hard stopping. His status for Game 6 probably won’t be determined until after this morning’s skate.

Calgary Coach Dave King has not announced his starting goaltender. Both Jeff Reese and Mike Vernon played in the 9-4 Game 5 loss on Tuesday. Vernon was the starter in the first two games, Reese in the last three.

King has dealt with an inconsistent team all season and still seems to be trying to figure it out.

“Our problem, what has plagued us all year, is not knowing how we’re going to play from game to game,” he said. “This is not a team that’s easy to read for the coach. If there’s a button to push to get this team going, I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what this team is going to do.”

Melrose had his doubts, too. But they were eased by the time the Kings hit the playoffs. He has received scoring from all four lines in this series and has used seven defensemen and two goaltenders. Kelly Hrudey started the first three games, Robb Stauber the last two. Stauber will start Game 6 and Hrudey will back up.

“In the playoffs, you have to have guys who do things out of character,” Melrose said. “Checkers scoring goals. And guys who score but never hit, have to start hitting. Teams who did that win in the playoffs.”