Gilmour’s Play Makes Kings Sick : Maple Leafs: Weakened by flu, Toronto center has a hand in all four goals and challenges L.A. to fight back.

When he came down with flu last Friday, Toronto Maple Leaf center Doug Gilmour was asked by his teammates to use his own water bottle.

Based on the way he has been playing, maybe his teammates ought to use his water bottle.

It has been a rough few days for Gilmour. He has been listless, dehydrated, unable to eat and unable to keep weight up.

The Kings can only shudder at the thought of what he might do if he gets healthy.

He did enough Monday night, getting a stick in on all four Toronto goals during the Maple Leafs’ 4-1 victory over the Kings in Game 1 of the Campbell Conference final.

Gilmour scored the game’s first goal by climbing over defenseman Rob Blake’s back to deflect in a shot from Bob Rouse. Gilmour made a brilliant, no-look pass from behind the net to set up Glenn Anderson’s goal. Gilmour beat goalie Kelly Hrudey to the puck and spun completely around to score Toronto’s third goal. And Gilmour got the puck to Bill Berg for the Maple Leafs’ final goal.

A good night’s work?

Gilmour wasn’t finished. He also took care of the personal shadow assigned to him by the Kings, dumping defenseman Alexei Zhitnik with a bone-jarring hit, something the Vancouver Canucks’ Pavel Bure only dreamed of doing during the Kings’ last series.

And Gilmour finished up the night by offering to take on the whole Kings’ bench after getting elbowed by Marty McSorley.

Tom Webster, where are you when the Kings’ really need you?

The club’s former coach is the only member of the organization to ever figure out a way to stop Gilmour.

Two years ago, the feisty Gilmour, then with the Calgary Flames, also got into it with the Kings’ bench. That confrontation ended with Webster, no shrinking violet himself, flattening Gilmour with a punch.

Gilmour shrugged off that blow, as he seems to shrug off everything that happens to him on the ice, good and bad.

Asked Monday about his bout with flu, Gilmour replied: “It’s just a little cold. It’s nothing much.”

His bout with McSorley? “It’s over and done with.”

His near-bout with the entire bench? “It was nothing. I had a couple of words.”

His ability to dominate a game? “Everybody knows what my job is. Obviously, I’ve got to produce.”

Gilmour, 29, has produced all season. He has played on two shifts. He has played on the power-play team. He has played on the penalty-killing unit. And he has averaged more than 30 minutes a game overall.

Playing in 83 regular-season games, Gilmour had 32 goals and 95 assists for a team-record 127 points.

In the playoffs, he has a league-leading 26 points, figuring in more than half of Toronto’s 50 goals.

And it’s not merely what he has done this season, but when he has done it.

He scored the tying goal and added three assists during the Maple Leafs’ Game 7 victory in their opening series against the Detroit Red Wings.

Then Gilmour came right back and scored the goal that gave the Maple Leafs a double-overtime victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of the division finals.

Both of the Maple Leafs’ previous series have gone the limit. In the two decisive games, Gilmour has two goals and five assists.

“He shows up when you need him,” Toronto General Manager Cliff Fletcher said. “He always has.”

Fletcher ought to know. He was the general manager of the Flames when Gilmour became a star in Calgary after beginning his career in St. Louis.

But after Fletcher left Calgary, Gilmour became disenchanted with the Flames. On New Year’s Eve, 1991, he packed his bags, stormed out of the Calgary locker room and vowed he wouldn’t be back.

Fletcher, having moved to Toronto, pulled off a 10-player deal to land the center, then signed him to a five-year, $5-million deal.

“If I told you I thought he would become the best player in the league,” Fletcher said, “I would not be telling you the truth.”

But that is close to what Gilmour might be.