Kings Clinch Playoff Berth

They had done what they could and had fallen short in overtime but gotten a precious point in a 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at GM Place on Thursday. The next 10 minutes were the hardest part of the Kings’ season, as they waited and prayed for the Phoenix Coyotes to lose at San Jose and give them the mathematical guarantee they needed.

The TV in their locker room ticked down the seconds of the game in San Jose, and finally, it was over. The Sharks had beaten the Coyotes, 3-0, putting themselves, the Kings, the Edmonton Oilers and the Canucks into the playoffs. King goalie Felix Potvin, reviled all night in his first visit to the city he left when the Canucks traded him to the Kings on Feb. 15, finally let himself smile.

“I was disappointed when I left the Canucks. We were sitting nice in fifth place and I didn’t think I would get another chance somewhere else,” he said. “I’m fortunate I did. This is awesome.”

Although Potvin was beaten by an unchecked Harold Druken 3:19 into overtime, the evening was a success for the Kings. Capping a late-season push that began with the acquisition of Potvin, they earned a point for the 14th time in 15 games and squeezed into the top eight in the fiercely contested Western Conference, although their final seeding isn’t set. They earned their second consecutive playoff berth and their third in eight seasons since their 1993 trip to the Stanley Cup finals.

“We all battled. We should feel proud of ourselves,” left wing Luc Robitaille said. “With the goaltending we’re getting we could surprise a lot of teams in the playoffs.”

Booed when he was announced as the Kings’ starting goalie, when he skated onto the ice for the start of the game and when he made even the most routine save, Potvin gave the fans fuel for more derision when he gave up a goal on the first shot he faced. However, he stopped five other Vancouver shots in the first period, even if he couldn’t stop the jeers.

Vancouver defenseman Brent Sopel, whose last goal had been 35 games ago against the Kings, victimized them again 33 seconds into the game. Set up at the top edge of the right circle, he ripped a shot past Potvin for his fourth goal of the season.

Potvin had given up a goal 26 seconds into the Kings’ game at Phoenix on Tuesday, but the Kings twice erased one-goal deficits and squeaked out a 2-2 tie.

“Knowing you did that, you have confidence,” Potvin said.

The Kings tested Canuck goalie Bob Essensa a few times in the first period, but he was up to the challenge. He sank to his knees to stop Robitaille on a breakaway 1:49 into the game, and he didn’t leave a rebound. He made a glove save on Glen Murray in the right circle and stopped Eric Belanger in close--and got lucky when Robitaille couldn’t deposit the rebound of Belanger’s shot into the open left side of the net.

Steve Kelly tied the score with his first goal as a King. An extra forward the last four games and inserted into the lineup Thursday only because Ian Laperriere is recovering from a concussion and Bryan Smolinski developed back spasms, Kelly beat Essensa with a blast from above the left faceoff circle at 2:12 of the second period. It was his first goal since Nov. 8, when he was with the New Jersey Devils. The Kings acquired him Feb. 27 for future considerations.

Adam Deadmarsh’s third goal as a King, a superb individual effort, gave the Kings a 2-1 lead at 13:33 of the second period. He blocked a shot by Canuck defenseman Ed Jovanovski at the Kings’ blue line and sprinted up ice, with Jovanovski in pursuit. Deadmarsh muscled his way to the front of the net and, as Essensa reached out his stick to poke the puck away, Deadmarsh jabbed it into the net. Deadmarsh ended up in the net too, and had to crawl out to celebrate his 16th goal of the season.

The Canucks pulled even 25 seconds into the third period, when Harold Druken took advantage of confusion in front of the Kings’ net. Potvin made the initial save on a shot by Brendan Morrison, but no one could clear the puck and Druken pounced on it and scored, drawing a roar from the sellout crowd of 18,422.

Druken’s winning goal drew a roar from the crowd, which was echoed by the Canucks when the Coyotes’ loss launched the Canucks into the playoffs. “I really believe this team is destined for great things,” Canuck Coach Marc Crawford said. “This is a big step for this franchise.”

Although clinching a playoff berth with an overtime loss was something of a sideways step for the Kings, they didn’t care. Having overcome so many obstacles and having made up so much ground, they were thoroughly elated.

“We’ll do better than the last two times we’ve been in the playoffs,” Robitaille said, referring to four-game sweeps by the Detroit Red Wings last season and the St. Louis Blues in 1998. “The way we’re playing as a team, we can win a lot of games.”

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THE WEST

The Kings clinched a playoff spot after their overtime loss at Vancouver and Phoenix’s loss at San Jose. The points breakdown:

1. Colorado 116

2. Detroit 109

3. Dallas 104

4. St. Louis 101

5. San Jose 92

6. Edmonton 91

7. Kings 90

8. Vancouver 90