Crossing Pattern

Andy Murray didn’t have to sweet-talk the Kings into accepting his ideas when he became their coach. Players said they wanted discipline, well-defined roles and consistency in the lineup, and they got them. Their 12-4-4 start was their best in years, one of the NHL’s most dramatic turnarounds.

Craig Hartsburg, by contrast, felt as if he were selling ice in the Arctic when he told the Ducks last season that defense was the way to win. With offensive talents such as Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya and Fredrik Olausson, defense wasn’t a priority.

“Last year was a huge sales job,” Hartsburg said. “But now they’ve had success the last year and a half, playing solid defense instead of always taking chances offensively.”

As decisively as they embraced Murray’s ideas in October, so have the Kings lately abandoned them. They make bad decisions under pressure, get small performances from big players and no timely saves. Their roller coaster is rocketing downhill and they can’t find the brake.

“What you’re dealing with now is somewhat of a question in the belief system,” Murray said.

While the Kings grasp at straws, the Ducks are grasping the realization that solid defense creates offensive opportunities for everyone. Their 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday tied them with the Kings at 39 points, but the Ducks lead in victories, 17-16. While the Kings plummet, the Ducks are rising--more slowly than fans like, judging by Sunday’s non-sellout crowd of 16,538 at the Arrowhead Pond--but they’re creating a foundation for long-term success.

“The whole thing is to build and to be the type of team that has a chance to win at the end,” Hartsburg said. “We have a long ways to go, but we’ve got to keep growing.

“The funny thing about this league is, you’re never staying the same. You’re either getting better or getting worse.”

The Kings, who have given up 23 goals in the last three games, are regressing. Why haven’t their best players been the best players lately? Their best forward is Ian Laperriere--and with all due respect to his boundless heart and energy, if he’s their top offensive threat, they’re in trouble.

“Everybody’s back, almost,” Laperriere said. “[Jozef] Stumpel is almost back. It’s not like we’re missing many players.”

They’re lacking leadership. Murray can show game tapes 24 hours a day, but the desire to change must come from the players.

“We knew we were going to have some downs, but right now we’re really down,” Laperriere said.

Which are the real Kings: the dynamic 12-4-4 team, or the uncertain, rudderless bunch that is 4-7-2 in the last month?

“Our players set the standard for the way they’re going to play this year,” Murray said. “I refuse to think they can’t get to that standard again. My job is to get them back to that level again.”

That’s his toughest sales job yet.

RED WING RENAISSANCE

Only after watching the defending Stanley Cup champion Dallas Stars struggle early this season can the magnitude of the Red Wings’ 1997 and 1998 titles--and their return to the elite level this season--be fully appreciated.

“The first time is always the toughest,” Detroit winger Brendan Shanahan said. “The first time, you’re kind of playing against self-doubt, wondering if you’re capable of doing it. The second time, you have to fight off complacency and mental and physical fatigue.

“I always said I didn’t agree with the complacency theory. Once you win it, it makes you hungrier. You realize how rewarding it is and you don’t want to accept losing. Also, for us, with the injury to Vladdie [Konstantinov, injured in a 1997 car accident], most teams couldn’t win back-to-back after losing their best defenseman. For us, that was a new challenge.”

Their loss to Dallas in the second round of the playoffs last spring might have been a blessing.

“From the first day of camp, I saw a well-rested group,” Shanahan said. “The attitude was, ‘Let’s get at it.’ Having an extra month off helped a lot of guys on this team. For the last five years this team probably played the most games of any team in the league.”

Although the Red Wings have missed “Grind Line” members Kirk Maltby, Joe Kocur, Kris Draper and Darren McCarty because of injuries, youngsters Stacy Roest, Yuri Butsayev and Darryl Laplante have stepped up. And free agent Pat Verbeek has brought a new edginess.

“I was watching them on TV [before he signed] and I saw the hunger is there again,” Verbeek said. “That’s vital if you want to push to win again.”

Goalie Chris Osgood has been sidelined nearly a month because of a broken hand, but the defense has protected Ken Wregget well. Chris Chelios leads the NHL with a plus-31 plus-minus rating, and free agent Steve Duchesne--an $11-million disaster with the Kings last season--is near the top at plus-15.

“He had a lot of pressure in L.A. with the free-agent contract he got,” Red Wing Coach Scotty Bowman said. “Here, he came in and was probably a better fit. We had [Nicklas] Lidstrom, [Larry] Murphy, Chelios.”

If the Red Wings won for their long-suffering fans in 1997 and for Konstantinov and masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov in 1998, a third Cup would be for themselves.

“It takes every ounce of energy you have, and skill, effort and luck,” associate coach Dave Lewis said. “It takes everything you have from everybody you have.

“Whether we have the makings of a Cup team, we’ll see in the playoffs. I like our ingredients.”

SEEING STARS

Just as the Stars seemed to put their bad start behind them, they took two heavy hits.

Defenseman Derian Hatcher, who leads the NHL in ice time with an average of 30 minutes eight seconds, suffered a cut calf muscle Friday after being kicked by the Edmonton Oilers’ Todd Marchant. He’s expected to be sidelined four weeks. In the same game, center Joe Nieuwendyk injured rib cartilage and is day to day.

That made their acquisition of defenseman Kevin Dean and signing of free agent Kirk Muller last week look prescient. Dean is adequate and Muller has the grit they lost when they let Verbeek and Dave Reid go last summer. The Stars also asked defenseman Craig Ludwig about ending his retirement, but he declined.

NUMBERS GAME

Attendance through early last week was down two-tenths of 1% from last season, to 16,065 a game, and the percentage of capacity was 87.2%, down from 89.9%. Ten teams had increases--among them the Kings with a 24% jump--13 had decreases (four by 4% or less) and four were unchanged. The Carolina Panthers’ 74% gain, from 7,322 to 12,740, was the biggest, followed by the Tampa Bay Lightning’s, up 36% to 14,218.

The Washington Capitals’ 30% slide was the biggest, but with an asterisk. They gave tickets away last season when owner Abe Pollin was preparing to sell the club, a policy new owner Ted Leonsis ended. They may draw fewer fans, but their revenue is up because the tickets are paid for.

The NHL traditionally draws better after Christmas, and the Colorado Avalanche is assured of sellouts the rest of the season. But seas of empty seats at Anaheim (-11%), Florida (-15%) and Vancouver (-10% from last season and down 19% from 1996-97) underscore the message that ticket prices are too high.

SLAP SHOTS

Goalie Felix “the Cat” Potvin gets another life in Vancouver, where he landed Sunday. Kevin Weekes, heralded by General Manager Brian Burke as the Canucks’ goalie of the future when he arrived in the Pavel Bure trade, couldn’t handle the workload on a team that’s in a 1-9-3 free fall. He was sent to the New York Islanders with slumping second-year right wing Bill Muckalt and Dave Scatchard. Potvin was wasted with the Islanders, an awful team that hopes youngster Roberto Luongo will be its savior. The Canucks have time to rebound for the playoff berth that goes to the Northwest Division winner.

Changes will be made in the skills contests each club holds because of the dislocated shoulder goalie Trevor Kidd suffered in the Florida Panthers’ contest. The rules don’t allow warmup time, and Kidd hurt his shoulder while stretching to stop a shot. Fans like the exhibitions, which many teams run as a charity event, but Kidd is sidelined for a month, charity or not. Building in time to stretch might solve the problem. . . . Interference has again reared its head, according to many coaches and general managers. “It seems every year at this time, we talk about it,” said Pierre Gauthier, the Duck general manager. “It’s not dramatic, and it’s an easy thing to slip. It’s human nature. I think everyone needs to be reminded about it, players, coaches and referees.”

Panther winger Bure has scored 11 goals in his last seven games. The Panthers are 12-1-1 in games in which he has a goal. . . . Unsigned free agent Keith Primeau talked to the Hurricanes last week, but no agreement is near and Primeau said he doesn’t expect to play for Carolina again. He cut his initial demand of $5 million a year but still wants a lot for someone who hasn’t accomplished much.