Maple Leafs Next Up for Kings : Hockey: Toronto puts away St. Louis with four goals in first period en route to a 6-0 victory.

The chant echoed throughout Maple Leaf Gardens as the sellout crowd of 15,720 rose as one to celebrate after the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the St. Louis Blues, 6-0, in Game 7 of the Norris Division finals Saturday night.

“Bring on the Kings!, Bring on the Kings!” long-suffering Maple Leaf fans shouted after watching their team advance to the conference final for the first time in 15 years.

“It’s a lot more fun playing in May than it is in October, so we might as well keep playing,” said Toronto captain Wendel Clark, who scored two first-period goals as the Maple Leafs took a 4-0 lead into the second period.

The smoke from the postgame indoor fireworks was floating toward the roof of the ancient arena and jubilant fans were creating gridlock on the downtown streets when the Toronto Sun began distributing an extra edition in the Maple Leaf locker room with a front-page headline in a type size usually reserved for the end of a war: “Leafs Win in 7; Bring on the Kings.”

The Maple Leafs, who were 2-1-1 against the Kings this season, play host to Wayne Gretzky and company in the series opener Monday at 4:30 p.m. PDT in Toronto. After Game 2 Wednesday night, the series moves to the Forum for Game 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday.

“We don’t want to get into a scoring matchup with the Kings,” said Maple Leaf center Doug Gilmour, who scored Toronto’s final goal and assisted on the first two goals en route to setting a team playoff scoring record. “We want to play them strong defensively and go from there.”

Rookie goalie Felix Potvin, who made 25 saves in recording his first playoff shutout, agreed.

“It’s going to be a tough series,” Potvin said. “The Kings beat a great team in Vancouver and they’ve got a wide-open offense like Detroit (which Toronto eliminated in the opening round of the Norris Division playoffs) and we’re going to try to have to shut them out. We don’t want to get into a shootout with the Kings.”

Gilmour, the NHL’s second-leading playoff scorer behind Gretzky this season, tried to downplay the matchup against Gretzky.

“That’s something that I don’t want to get into,” Gilmour said. “We look at the matchup as a team effort by everyone. This team has had success by everyone working together all year.”

The winner of the conference finals, which matches two third-place teams, advances to the Stanley Cup finals against the winner of the Wales Conference final between the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Islanders, who ousted the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

Toronto left wing Glenn Anderson, who assisted on two goals, says the Kings are on a mission. Anderson, who played with Gretzky in Edmonton, where the Oilers won five Stanley Cups, said this may be Gretzky’s final chance to drink from Lord Stanley’s Cup.

“I know the Kings are very determined and they realize that they might not have that opportunity again,” Anderson said. “They are determined not only to get by this series against us but to win the Stanley Cup. That’s what their goal was and that’s what they set out to do.”

The Maple Leafs, who had averaged 2.28 goals per game in the first six games of the series, broke the game open with four in the first period.

Left wing Mike Krushelnyski, who played two seasons for the Kings before he was traded to Toronto 15 games into the 1990-91 season, had a goal and an assist as the Maple Leafs embarrassed St. Louis goalie Curtis Joseph, the 1993 NHL playoff leader in goals-against average and saves.

“This is something that I’m going to remember for a long time,” said Joseph, who was taunted by the crowd, which chanted “Jo- sieve .”

Leading, 1-0, after Dave Andreychuk’s power-play goal at 5:02, Clark got lucky, scoring on a shot that was accidentally tipped into the net off the knee of St. Louis defenseman Curt Giles at 10:02.

After Krushelnyski redirected Anderson’s pass at 15:12 for 3-0, Clark scored off a pass from Anderson with 19.6 seconds remaining in the opening period.

Left wing Kent Manderville and Gilmour added second-period goals for Toronto, which is attempting to reach the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1967.