Kings Behind the 8-Puck

Well, they certainly got that defense nonsense out of the way.

In the second game of a series of extremes, the Kings learned Saturday that they can play an open-ice game with the Red Wings, can go to the net with the Red Wings, can hit with the Red Wings.

They also learned that gifts in their own end of the ice are expensive.

Turnovers and transgressions that gave Detroit power-play time cost the Kings so dearly that two goals by Ziggy Palffy and one each by Luc Robitaille, Sean O’Donnell and Craig Johnson were overshadowed in an 8-5 loss to the Red Wings before 19,983 at Joe Louis Arena. Detroit leads the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series, 2-0.

“Five goals should be enough to win the game,” King center Jozef Stumpel said.

Not when Martin Lapointe gets three, Kris Draper and Nicklas Lidstrom two each and Brendan Shanahan one for Detroit, which scored three power-play goals.

Added defenseman Garry Galley: “If we get five goals Monday night, we win the game.”

Not without better defense, and not unless they can stay out of the penalty box.

Game 3 is Monday night at Staples Center. “It’s a game we have to win,” Galley said.

Saturday’s game was set up for the Kings to win, until they shot themselves in the foot quickly, making it necessary for them to open things up.

The Kings wanted to press the issue after being shut out, 2-0, in Game 1, but they didn’t want to get into a track meet with Detroit. When two teams launch 87 shots--the Kings had 21 in the first period alone and 44 in the game--that’s the hockey equivalent of the Mt. SAC Relays.

“No, that first game is more like we want to play,” King captain Rob Blake said.

“I don’t think we saw their real offense in that first game,” said Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman, who was so angry after a first period in which the Red Wings led, 4-3, that he slammed the dressing-room door and left television interviewers looking for Kings as subjects.

Maybe they did Saturday, and to a large extent because of straits the Kings put themselves in.

With 5:36 played, Jaroslav Modry’s pass toward Blake was intercepted by Shanahan, whose ensuing shot didn’t go in the net. It was the first mistake the Kings made that didn’t result in a red light.

In rapid-fire order:

* Goalie Stephane Fiset’s clearing pass went off Garry Galley’s stick and onto Vyacheslav Kozlov’s, from which it was launched goalward. Shanahan was there to clean up the rebound.

Only 55 seconds had elapsed.

* Jere Karalahti tried to chip the puck out of harm’s way, but instead sent it to Kirk Maltby’s stomach. Maltby then backhanded the puck to Lapointe for a goal and a 2-0 lead.

Only 1:33 had been played.

* Bob Corkum tried to clear a puck near the King goal, but his pass toward Karalahti was picked off by Draper, whose shot was both true and easy for a 3-1 lead.

Only 3:32 was gone.

“They’re too good a team to give pucks to in our own end,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “They’re mistakes that shouldn’t have been made.”

They were partially offset by Robitaille’s goal, which came in traffic at the Detroit net and actually was kicked in by Red Wing goalie Chris Osgood. But Draper’s first goal took care of any notion of seized momentum.

Palffy cut it to 3-2, but Lapointe scored again on a power play.

“We felt we could come back on them all night,” Robitaille said. “We did, but it wasn’t enough.”

O’Donnell’s goal was scored with 24 seconds to play out of a convention in the crease. It cut the Detroit lead to 4-3 and set off Bowman.

“I would say they had to get a lift from that goal at the end of the first period, because there was still plenty of hockey left to play,” he said.

Any lift was short-lived. Draper’s second goal, 3:27 into the period, was Fiset’s undoing. He gave up five goals on 17 shots before leaving for Jamie Storr.

“I felt that our team let Stephane down,” Murray said.

That didn’t keep him from pondering starting Storr on Monday night after he gave up two goals in 25 shots.

The final goal, by Lidstrom, came with the Kings’ net empty.

Lapointe’s third goal--also on a power play--was offset by goals by Johnson and Palffy to close the gap to 6-5 with 18:49 left. But Lidstrom’s first goal--again on a power play--at 9:18 finished off the Kings.

And now they mull Monday.

“I think maybe the way we played the game here tonight is a sign for the series that we just aren’t going to go away,” Murray said. “People who think that this thing is all done . . . we’re not just going to fade away.”

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

* Game 1: Red Wings, 2-0

* Game 2: Red Wings, 8-5

* Game 3: Monday at Staples,

7 p.m., Fox Sp. Net, ESPN2**

* Game 4: Wed. at Staples,

7 p.m., Fox Sp. Net, ESPN**

* Game 5: Friday at Detroit,*

4 p.m., Fox Sp. Net, ESPN**

* Game 6: April 23 at Staples,*

noon, Channel 7

* Game 7: April 25 at Detroit,*

4 p.m., Fox Sp. Net, ESPN**

*if necessary; **subject to blackout locally