First Look

KINGS vs. ST. LOUIS BLUES

First round

NHL Playoffs

Best-of-seven series expected to begin Thursday.

* Records: Kings 38-33-11 (87 points); St. Louis 45-29-8 (98)

* Home Records: Kings 22-16-3; St. Louis 26-10-5

* Road Records: Kings 16-17-8; St. Louis 19-19-3

* Season Series: St. Louis is 3-0-1 against Kings with 17-9 edge in goals.

* About the Kings: Since the Olympic break, the Kings have played sub .500 hockey with a 12-13-2 record. They lost their final two games to St. Louis and Anaheim by a total of 11-4. One reason for their recent problems has been a lack of incentive as they’ve been locked into fifth in the Western Conference since Feb. 5.

* About the Blues: Many NHL experts consider the Blues as a dark horse to reach the Stanley Cup finals because of their core of talented veteran players like Brett Hull, Pierre Turgeon, Al MacInnis and Grant Fuhr. Since the Olympic break, St. Louis is 15-8, which includes two road victories over the Kings. The Blues have scored first in 47 of 81 games and have a 33-7-7 record in those games.

KINGS’ TOP SCORERS

Jozef Stumpel (21 goals, 58

assists, 79 points)

Glen Murray (29-31-60)

Vladimir Tsyplakov (18-34-52)

Rob Blake (23-27-50)

Yanic Perreault (28-20-48)

Luc Robitaille (16-24-50)

TOP SCORERS VS. ST. LOUIS

Stumpel (2 goals, 3 assists,

5 points)

Blake (2-1-3)

Perreault (1-1-2)

Matt Johnson (1-1-2)

Craig Johnson (0-2-2)

Jan Vopat (0-2-2)

ST. LOUIS’ TOP SCORERS

Brett Hull (27 goals, 45

assists, 73 points)

Pierre Turgeon (22-46-69)

Geoff Courtnall (31-31-62)

Steve Duchesne (14-42-56)

Pavol Demitra (22-29-52)

Al MacInnis (19-30-49)

TOP SCORERS VS. KINGS

Hull (3 goals, 3 assists,

6 points)

Duchesne (1-5-6)

Demitra (2-4-6)

Jim Campbell (1-5-6)

Courtnall (2-3-5)

OFFENSE

The Blues hold a clear edge since they are the highest-scoring team in the league with 256 goals. They scored five against the Mighty Ducks on Sunday night. A key reason for their success has been their offense-minded defensive unit, which has led the NHL in scoring all season. MacInnis leads the way with 19 goals but Duchesne has 14 and Todd Gill has 13. Courtnall has had a banner season in leading the team with 31 goals.

DEFENSE

Behind the strength of Chris Pronger, St. Louis’ 23-year old captain with a plus rating over 40 this season, the Blues have to be given a slight advantage defensively. St. Louis has given up 204 goals compared to the Kings’ 225. The Blues have three solid defensemen in Pronger, MacInnis and Duchesne, along with steady goaltending from Grant Fuhr and Jamie McLennan. St. Louis, however, has given up goals in key games only to be saved by its offense.

INTANGIBLES

The Kings can’t afford to take dumb penalties and give St. Louis’ potent power-play too many opportunities. The Blues have ranked among the league leaders in power play goals all season and have 62 goals with a man-advantage going into Sunday’s game. When the Blues have scored more than two power play goals in a game, they are 18-1-4. The Kings’ penalty-killing unit is solid when they have both LaFayette and Courtnall in the lineup. The Kings scored six short-handed goals over their final 10 games. St. Louis’ penalty-killing unit is known for its aggressiveness and the Kings will have to move the puck with crispness in order to score goals.

COACHES

King Coach Larry Robinson along with assistants Rick Green, Jay Leach and Don Edwards have done an outstanding job of keeping their team focus. Although they’ve struggled some recently, the Kings still held on to be seeded fifth in the playoffs. Robinson’s playoff experiences as a player and as an assistant with New Jersey should help the Kings, who have 18 players who have none or less than eight games of postseason play. St. Louis Coach Joel Quenneville has done a great job in keeping his team together despite having so many players that will be free agents at the end of the season. Quenneville is a former assistant with Colorado but like Robinson, is in his first playoffs as a head coach.

THE PICK

It’s easy to see why St. Louis is a strong favorite considering that the Blues are 5-0-1 against the Kings since Jan. 11, 1997. But the Blues will feel the pressure if the series goes beyond five games and the more games played, favors the Kings because of their size advantage. With this reasoning, the Kings in six.