STANLEY CUP FINALS : Overtime Still Canadien Time : Game 4: LeClair does it again, this time ending extra period by bouncing shot off Sydor. The 3-2 victory gives Montreal 3-1 lead.

The names people have been mentioning in the aftermath of the Kings’ three consecutive overtime losses to the Montreal Canadiens tell something about the crushing nature of these games, the latest being a 3-2 defeat in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals on Monday night at the Forum.

After Stickgate, which led to their loss in Game 2, King fans were equating Marty McSorley and his illegal stick to Bill Buckner of World Series infamy.

Not long after center John LeClair’s goal off King defenseman Darryl Sydor’s shin guard at 14:37 of overtime Monday gave the Canadiens a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series and sent the sellout crowd of 16,005 into a stunned silence, another name was being trotted out in the dressing room.

Sydor, an Edmonton native, was asked whether he remembered former Oiler defenseman Steve Smith, whose famous blunder helped eliminate his team from the playoffs in 1986.

“I haven’t thought about it until now,” Sydor said. “I felt sorry for him. It wasn’t my intention to put it in the net. You don’t try to think out there, you react.

“I cost my team the victory.”

But Sydor did what any defenseman would have done after the net had been vacated by King goaltender Kelly Hrudey. Sydor attempted to play goal and was in the crease when LeClair banked it in off him. “I ended up behind the net with everybody out of the nets, and I tried to jam it in and I got a little help,” LeClair said.

Said Montreal Coach Jacques Demers: “I feel sorry for young Sydor. It must be understood he was trying to help his goalie.”

Seconds earlier, Sydor’s defensive partner, Alexei Zhitnik, had made a textbook play in breaking up a two-on-one with LeClair, who was trying to pass to Stephan Lebeau. LeClair could not pass, so he took a shot, which Hrudey deflected to the side of the net.

That was the way it went for the Kings in Game 4. They outplayed the Canadiens and did everything right in overtime--until the game-winning goal. They attacked Montreal, outshooting the Canadiens in the extra period, 10-7. Center Jimmy Carson had two excellent chances to win it, including one shot that glanced off the post.

Now the Kings are faced with having to win three consecutive games, starting with Game 5 in Montreal on Wednesday. It’s a daunting prospect when you consider that the Canadiens are 10-1 in overtime games in the playoffs, having won 10 in a row.

“The thing about sports is, the minute something is over, you (have to) forget it,” King Coach Barry Melrose said.

“If you dwell, you end up in the loony bin.”

With all the overtime games, this series is starting to approach historic proportions. The last final to have three consecutive overtime games was in 1951, when the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Canadiens, four games to one, and every game ended in overtime.

Not helping the Kings is a sudden rash of injuries. Monday, they were hindered by injuries to two of their best penalty-killers, defenseman Charlie Huddy and right wing Dave Taylor.

Huddy, who suffered a torn ligament in his right knee in Game 3, could be gone for the rest of the series. Taylor, perhaps playing in his final season with the Kings, sat out because of a strained right shoulder, an injury he suffered near the end of Game 3.

Replacing them were Carson and left wing Lonnie Loach, leaving the Kings with six defensemen.

Carson had not played since Game 4 of the Campbell Conference finals against Toronto, and Loach made his playoff debut on Monday.

The loss of Huddy and Taylor not only hurt the Kings’ defensively, but it took away a lot of leadership.

Between Taylor and Huddy, they have 28 seasons of NHL experience, Huddy 12 and Taylor 16. And both have raised the level of their game several notches in the postseason.

McSorley pulled the Kings to a 2-2 tie when he scored with five seconds to play in the second period.

It was a rare King power-play goal. They were two for 19 in the first three games, and McSorley’s goal made them three for 21. The power-play opportunity came when right wing Brian Bellows went off for hooking Jari Kurri at 19:10.

Wayne Gretzky set up behind the net, skated to the side and hit McSorley, who moved from the top of the slot to the area in between the circles near the hash marks. He beat Roy up high with a one-timed shot from 15 feet out.

The goal gave the Kings a major lift and brought the crowd back into the game.

It almost mirrored Game 3, in which the Kings came back from a 3-0 deficit in the second period. In Game 4, the deficit was 2-0.

Mike Donnelly started the comeback at 6:33 when he converted his own rebound in front after taking the initial shot from the edge of the left circle. What essentially set up the goal was Tony Granato’s poke check, which caused center Paul DiPietro to turn the puck over in the zone.

Donnelly’s goal came 1:09 after Vincent Damphousse’s power-play goal made it 2-0. The Canadiens, who entered the game two for 16 on power plays, gained the man advantage when King defenseman Mark Hardy went off for holding DiPietro at 3:32. Mike Keane’s shot from the left circle went off the end boards and bounced to the stick of Damphousse, who had headed to the net and put it past Hrudey from the right crease at 5:24.

The Kings trailed, 1-0, after the first period and were lucky they weren’t behind by more because they were outshot, 13-6, including an 11-3 deficit in the first 12:13. Lost faceoffs accounted for the large territorial discrepancy in the first period as Kurri, in particular, struggled all night on draws.

That struggle led to Montreal’s first goal, when Kirk Muller won a faceoff cleanly from Kurri in the left circle. Muller then beat Hrudey with a quick shot off the draw at 10:57.

Said McSorley: “We know where the wall is. It’s right behind us. We’re not upset. We’re not depressed. But we’re not very happy.”