Kings’ Offense Shuts Down, 4-1 : Game 1: They get only one shot on goal during the third period. Gilmour has two goals, two assists for Toronto.

Whatever anyone needs to know about how or why the Kings unraveled during a 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs can be gleaned from one simple statistic, which is not a misprint:

Toronto 22, Los Angeles 1.

Those were the third-period shots on goal. You don’t win a regular-season game with one shot on goal.

Or any playoff game.

Especially the opener of the Campbell Conference finals here before a sellout crowd of 15,720 at Maple Leaf Gardens on Monday night.

And it wasn’t as though the Kings were trying to protect any sort of lead. The teams headed into the third period with the score 1-1 after alternating goals in the first two periods. Maple Leaf center Doug Gilmour scored during the first period and King forward Pat Conacher split the defense to score during the second.

For the Kings, their sum total of offense came early in the third with center Jimmy Carson earning the dubious distinction as the only King player to launch a shot on goal.

With the Kings sleep-skating, the Maple Leafs started circling and seized the moment, scoring two goals in a span of 1:06 by Glenn Anderson and Gilmour to take a 3-1 lead by the 10:55 mark of the third. Left wing Bill Berg, not exactly a scoring threat, made the score 4-1 with his first-ever playoff goal at 15:21, taking a pass from Gilmour, who was behind the net. Gilmour got the pass off shortly before he was rocked by a check from defenseman Alexei Zhitnik.

“We can’t play that way,” King forward Tony Granato said. “It seemed like we tried to play the way they did and they tried to play the way we usually do.”

Trading places was not the successful formula for the Kings in Game 1. So they tried to exchange checks and words with the Maple Leafs, attempting to set some sort of tone for Game 2 here on Wednesday.

As usual, Gilmour was in the middle of everything as he figured in every Maple Leaf goal, scoring twice and helping set up the other two. Then there is his other side.

Gilmour’s history against the Kings dates to his days with the Calgary Flames. He added a chapter when he broke King forward Tomas Sandstrom’s forearm with an intentional, two-handed slash in Los Angeles in November, earning an eight-day, non-game suspension.

Monday, Gilmour went after Zhitnik, who was assigned to slow him down, throwing a check that caught Zhitnik in the left knee about nine minutes into the third. Zhitnik looked angered and went to the Kings’ bench and had his leg examined by trainer Pete Demers, but returned to action.

“I gave pass to Corey Millen and go to the bench for change and Doug Gilmour hit me,” Zhitnik said. “There was lots of time after I gave the pass. I think it was penalty. . . . I get really mad at Gilmour, but I don’t want to give some injury to Gilmour. If I have a chance, I get him back.”

Referee Dan Marouelli did not call a penalty on the play. Later he called a five-minute major for elbowing on King Marty McSorley, who clipped Gilmour at 17:26, sparking a multiplayer melee. Gilmour, who went down as though severely injured, nevertheless recovered enough to skate over to the Kings’ bench and grab defenseman Darryl Sydor’s stick. Zhitnik, for his part, pointed at Gilmour and said something. “He was coming over to our bench pointing his finger,” Sydor said. “I let him do the talking. I wasn’t in the position to say anything the way the game was going. He had the right to talk.”

After McSorley elbowed Gilmour, he was jumped by Maple Leaf Wendel Clark and then King Dave Taylor squared off with Todd Gill. And during the fights, King Coach Barry Melrose was doing some of his own instigating, which prompted Toronto Coach Pat Burns to go after Melrose.

“I’ll tell you what I did,” Melrose said after the game. Melrose laughed and puffed out his cheeks, mimicking an overweight person.

It could have been worse, Melrose said, adding: “I could have said, ‘Have another doughnut.’ ”

Melrose saved his ire for Marouelli. “This is too intense for him, this kind of thing,” he said. “There’s two sets of rules for everybody. Oh, he’s a great referee, I think he (Marouelli) should go to the Hall of Fame with Gil Stein. Let’s talk about something else.

“I take it all back. Just like when we’re kids. Gilmour just about rips Alex’s knee apart and there’s no penalty and then Marty hits him and there’s a five-minute penalty. Obviously, it’s ridiculous. It’s OK for them to do whatever they want to us. But if one of our guy sticks up for another guy, we lose control.”

But Melrose seemed most amused that he got Burns to loose control. While Burns was rushing toward the King bench and Melrose was standing with his foot up on the bench, staring forward with an innocent look.

“It was funny,” Melrose said. “When people lose control, it’s funny.”