Agony Turns to Ecstasy for McNall : Kings: Owner spends a fitful night watching his team advance past second round of Stanley Cup playoffs for first time.

The man was pacing. Back and forth.

It was just before the start of the third period Thursday night at the Forum, and friends and well-wishers were coming up to King owner Bruce McNall in his private ice-level area to wish him well.

McNall was polite, but cautious. Yes, his team had a 4-2 lead going into the final 20 minutes against the Vancouver Canucks in Game 6 of the Smythe Division finals.

But nothing is assured when your club has spent 26 years trying to get out of the second round.

Twenty minutes to play--”It’s scary,” McNall says as he nervously takes his seat. “It’s hard to imagine that all we need is one more period.”

19:30--A.C. Green of the Lakers shows up.

McNall motions to a seat.

“Stay there and don’t move,” McNall says. “That’s a lucky seat.”

19:00--”It’s going to be a long 19 minutes,” says McNall, glancing up at the scoreboard clock.

18:56--Goalie Kelly Hrudey makes a tough save.

“It’s going to be a long 18 minutes and 56 seconds,” McNall says.

16:00--The Canucks rush the net and appear for a moment as if they are going to score.

“I really don’t want to go back to Vancouver,” McNall says, agony etched on his face. “I really don’t want to go.”

15:00--”I’ve fantasized about this for a long time,” McNall says. “But we are going into uncharted waters here. We are trying to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

14:00--The puck seems rooted in the Kings’ zone, right in front of McNall. A friend puts his hand on McNall’s forehead as if taking his temperature.

“When this is over,” McNall says, “I’m going into the doctor’s room first to see if I’m still alive.”

11:06--Gretzky scores to give the Kings a 5-2 lead.

“That may have done it,” McNall says to nobody in particular. “That just may have done it.”

10:00--”I always had confidence in these players,” McNall says. “Even when we were suffering that adversity in the middle of the season. That may have been a blessing in disguise because it gave us confidence.”

7:15--”When it gets under 4:00,” McNall says, “I’ll start breathing again.”

4:30--”It was in Calgary,” McNall says, “when we came back and won Game 5 that I thought maybe this is it. We would not have done that in the old days. I thought, ‘What do we have going?’ ”

4:00--The fans begin to celebrate, dancing cheering and singing “Goodby” to the Canucks.

“I’m so happy for the people of this city,” McNall says.

2:55--Vancouver’s Trevor Linden scores to cut the margin to 5-3.

McNall’s light-hearted mood has disappeared. The tenseness is back.

“This is crazy,” he says. “Anything can happen.”

2:05--”Oh boy,” McNall says. “This team doesn’t do anything easy.”

0:44--”It sure feels good at a point like this,” he says, “to look out there and see a Gretzky and a (Jari) Kurri.”

0:22--”I’ve loved every minute of owning this team,” McNall says, still a bit nervous, “even the bad times. This is like every childhood dream come true.”

0:08.3--Friends and family surround McNall and hug him.

“ Now I’m confident,” he says. “They are not going to get two goals in eight seconds.”

0:00--McNall stands and cheers. Now he’s merely one of 16,005 Forum fans whose dream has come true.