Melrose Hunch Pays Off Big Time : Smythe finals: L.A. coach replaces Millen with Shuchuk, who ends up scoring in second overtime to give Kings a 3-2 series lead.

King Coach Barry Melrose never really left a team in Adirondack, he merely tried to bring it with him to Los Angeles.

Melrose argued, cajoled and all but begged General Manager Nick Beverley to get three of the players--Lonnie Loach, Gary Shuchuk and Marc Potvin--who helped his Adirondack Red Wings win the American Hockey League championship in 1992.

Tuesday night in Vancouver, it was the hard-hitting Shuchuk who put the finishing touch on the longest game in King history, helping bring them one step closer to a place where no King team has gone--the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Shuchuk’s goal at 6:31 of the second overtime gave the Kings a 4-3 victory over the Canucks and a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Smythe Division finals. Game 6 is tonight at the Forum and Game 7, if necessary, is in Vancouver on Saturday.

“I’m no hero,” said Shuchuk, who beat goaltender Kirk McLean on the short side with a shot under McLean’s right arm. “I would not go that far. When we win the Stanley Cup, you can call everybody a hero.”

Never mind that Shuchuk had not played a minute of this series, or since Game 3 of the first round. Or that he almost didn’t make it back on the ice for the first overtime after losing his bearings from a hard, flattening check by Canuck defenseman Gerald Diduck midway through the third period.

King doctors urged caution. Shuchuk kept putting his helmet on and inching toward the dressing room door. For him, it was another battle to win, almost like fighting Cliff Ronning along the boards.

“He obviously was shaken up,” King trainer Pete Demers said. “We talked to him. I told him I wanted him to come in the dressing room and check him out. He came off the ice and he sat on the bench. We had to grab him and pull him in here. He’s a competitor.”

Said Shuchuk: “I got my bell rung. That’s hockey. You get hit.”

On the plus side, Shuchuk added, “And, I like to do some hitting.”

Which is why Melrose acted on one of his hunches, pulling center Corey Millen from the lineup and replacing him with Shuchuk. (The other change was Potvin for defenseman Mark Hardy, but Potvin did not get off the bench).

“I made (the change) because I knew the elements he had: courage, emotion, and he’ll hit anything that moves,” Melrose said.

Then the King coach paid Shuchuk what he considered the ultimate compliment, saying: “He’s got a heart as big as Saskatchewan.”

Melrose and King upper management generated a great deal of criticism when they traded future Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey to the Detroit Red Wings for center Jimmy Carson, Shuchuk and Potvin. They opened themselves up for considerable second-guessing when Shuchuk and Potvin did not even suit up for the Vancouver series until Game 5 and Carson all but disappeared from the ice, with no points in the second round.

Perhaps Melrose’s loyalty was blinding him?

He says no.

“These are the two guys I wanted the day I got here,” he said. “They believe in the way I coach, and I believe in the way they play.

“I’m very proud. I know what he (Shuchuk) is like. We needed that on the bench. It’s great for guys like Wayne (Gretzky), who has scored 102 playoff goals, and Jari (Kurri) to see a guy score his first playoff goal.”

The Kings have moved within one victory of the Campbell Conference finals with a broad-based coalition of contributors. Since Game 2, rookie defenseman Alexei Zhitnik has hounded Canuck star right wing Pavel Bure into virtual submission. Bure, who has one goal this series and only two assists since Game 2, seems to be looking over his shoulder, anticipating a stiff hip check from his former comrade and Russian teammate.

“In practice, when he (Zhitnik) is out there, I go to the end of the line,” Gretzky said. “I don’t need to deal with that.”

Bure probably feels the same way. Gretzky said that the Zhitnik-Bure matchup has helped turn the series toward the Kings. So has Gretzky, of course. He has recorded points in 10 of the Kings’ 11 playoff games and has five goals and 10 points against the Canucks.

Gretzky seems to be everywhere--forechecking, backchecking, killing penalties and setting up behind the net on the power play. In Game 5, his total ice time through regulation and one overtime was 32 minutes 9 seconds. And he was on the ice for most of the second overtime before Shuchuk ended it.

Goaltender Kelly Hrudey, maligned and benched throughout the second half of the regular season, came through with perhaps his best playoff performance as a King. Though the Kings outshot the Canucks, 17-8, in the two overtimes, Hrudey was formidable under duress, making every save look routine.

“When he looks like he did,” Melrose said, “you don’t ever think they can score.”

Said the Canucks’ Trevor Linden: “He was huge. Huge when called on.”

Hrudey said his pads felt “light” in overtime. Getting to sleep afterward was more difficult, however, as he finally dozed off at about 4 a.m.

“I didn’t go over the goals that were scored so much as the close calls and the close saves,” Hrudey said. “I don’t think you can jump the gun and think about the next series. The longer you’re around, the more you learn to stay focused and realize how difficult it gets for what is ahead.”

Melrose said his team learned a lesson about complacency when it relaxed in Game 4 in Los Angeles and blew a chance to take a 3-1 lead.

“I’ve got to do some thinking and come up with an idea, so it won’t happen again,” he said.

King Notes

Canuck Coach Pat Quinn, in a time-honored playoff tradition, claimed that Wayne Gretzky is taking dives. “I’m a little disappointed in Mr. Quinn,” King Coach Barry Melrose said. “Coaches have been saying the same thing to intimidate referees since the ‘50s. He is supposed to be a genius. I figured he’d come up with new ideas to intimidate referees.” Said Gretzky: “These two series have been up there with the most physical playoff series I’ve ever played in. I got hit a couple of times, but that’s the game. Contrary to public belief, everybody gets hit out there.”