Lights Out on Kings

He was the big gun the Kings have lacked since Wayne Gretzky left town four years ago, the proven scorer they needed so the resurgent Luc Robitaille didn’t have to carry them all by himself.

Ziggy Palffy’s acquisition last summer was supposed to help the Kings take the next step, but it’s hard for a player to lead the way when he doesn’t know the territory.

For all of Palffy’s accomplishments in his five-plus seasons with the New York Islanders, he never appeared in a playoff game. Not one.

Palff Daddy fared pretty well for himself, with two goals and some aggressive play, even though Chris Chelios kept offering to introduce him to the playoffs with a series of shoves, bumps and trips.

In all likelihood, we learned more about the Kings than Palffy learned about the playoffs during their four-game sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings that ended with a 3-0 Detroit victory Wednesday night at Staples Center.

Palffy will be fine. Now the Kings need to fill in the gaps.

Stars playing up to their capabilities on both sides will cancel each other out during the playoffs. It becomes a test of whose unsung heroes throughout the year are willing to step up to the microphone and belt out a tune.

Even though Palffy and Robitaille had more goals than Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, Detroit had more players producing goals and more players working harder on defense.

When the open flow of Game 2 allowed Palffy and Robitaille to combine for three goals, the Red Wings got a hat trick from Martin Lapointe (who averaged one goal every five games during the regular season) and two goals from Kris Draper (who scored five goals in 51 games).

No one came close to stepping up for the Kings, although goaltender Stephane Fiset’s performance the past two games (four goals, all against the power play) was commendable.

And the word that comes to mind to describe Glen Murray’s performance is “vanish”.

Palffy didn’t exactly get a chance to build momentum coming into the Stanley Cup playoffs. He missed the final 12 games of the regular season because of a shoulder injury. It would have taken him a while to get up to speed for any game, let alone the velocity of the playoffs.

“Everything is faster,” Palffy said. “There’s not too much space for handling the puck. You have the puck and two guys on you. You have to make quick decisions and put the puck somewhere where it’s usable.”

At times there seemed to be two Red Wings for every King on the ice. Even when Palffy created an opening, the way he did when he juked Chelios in the first period Wednesday night, he encountered a sharp goaltender in Chris Osgood.

At least Palffy did better than Staples Center in its maiden postseason performance.

One of the glass sections above the dasher boards cracked and another collapsed on a pair of bang-bang hits in the second period. Later, a problem with the lights delayed the start of the third period for about 20 minutes. Palffy did feel as though he took something out of this last week.

“What I got from these playoffs, I’ve experienced how the play goes,” Palffy said. “There’s not too much room.

“You just have to pack it in, because nothing’s going to go easy for you. You have to work hard for the puck.”

Palffy turns 28 on May 5, so he’s just entering the prime of his career. Now he’s talented and playoff-tested.

But just because he is young doesn’t mean the Kings have the luxury of time and can afford to be patient. Robitaille, for example, is 34, and although he shows no signs of tailing off the Kings would be wise to take advantage of these next couple of years.

The problem is there are just so many obstacles on their path to the Stanley Cup. If it isn’t Detroit it’s the Dallas Stars.

Or the St. Louis Blues.

Or the Colorado Avalanche.

The Kings tried to put together a bunch of hard-working overachievers and that didn’t get it done. They made the move we all asked them to make and brought in Palffy, with no difference in the results. The Kings sent Olli Jokinen, Josh Green, Mathieu Biron and a 1999 first-round pick to the Islanders for Palffy, so now General Manager Dave Taylor doesn’t have quite as much to deal this summer.

As the Kings saw, it’s hard for one player to make all the difference. And sometimes even the best that player can’t do isn’t enough.

Palffy made a great move to get himself a shot in Game 3 and Osgood kicked the puck away with his skate, perhaps the difference in what turned out to be a one-goal game.

It’s doubtful that any other King player would have even had that scoring opportunity. Perhaps next year, one year and four playoff games wiser, Palffy makes that little extra move to get the puck in the net. The game goes into overtime, the Kings win and climb back into the series.

For now they can only imagine, the dreams a little more tangible for the experience, even if the reality does not appear to have changed.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com