Kings Return for Fitting Conclusion

It all began here, in bleak mid-February, with a trip to a curling rink and a goaltending performance that gave the Kings a glimmer of hope. And it’s fitting their season ends today in Calgary, because this is where their playoff prospects and their spirits were reborn.

The day before their Feb. 22 game against the Flames at Pengrowth Saddledome, Coach Andy Murray took the team curling, figuring players could forget a recent 2-5-1 homestand, the rumors of Rob Blake’s imminent departure, and the three losses in their previous four games.

“It was just to do something different,” Murray said. “They were howling and laughing. We hadn’t laughed for about two months.”

Blake was traded that night, lifting a cloud of uncertainty. The next day, Felix Potvin recorded a 2-0 victory, the first in a 12-2-5-2 push that propelled the Kings into the playoffs. To end the season tonight against the Flames is somehow right because it’s another new beginning for the Kings. With a playoff berth secured, they can focus on maintaining the gritty style and tight team play that lifted them from the depths of despair to the brink of playoff possibilities.

“The addition of Felix was a key move for us,” defenseman Mathieu Schneider said Friday. “After that game here, he started to get more and more confidence, and the more confidence he got, the more confidence we got as a team.”

Said defenseman Mattias Norstrom: “You look back and for sure you can say that game in Calgary was the turning point. Since then, this has been the most fun time of the whole year, with the kind of hockey we’ve been playing.”

Potvin, who has started 22 consecutive games, stayed with his family in Vancouver Thursday after the Kings’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Canucks. He was to arrive in Calgary late Friday and discuss if he will rest today or continue his streak. “My feeling right now is yes, he will play,” Murray said. “One of the reasons is to keep the rhythm that we have going.”

They wouldn’t be in the playoffs without Potvin, who is 12-5-5 with a 1.96 goals-against average and .918 save percentage.

Four points out of the playoffs after a dismal homestand in which they lost to Calgary, Minnesota and Nashville, the Kings fell further when they began a five-game trip with a loss at Dallas, a win at Minnesota and losses at Chicago and Edmonton. Potvin, acquired from Vancouver Feb. 15 for future considerations, made his King debut in Edmonton Feb. 20 with a 5-0 loss, doing little to disprove the whispers he was past his prime. The Kings were six points behind the Edmonton Oilers, then eighth in the West.

They could have fallen apart. Instead, they went curling and fell over the ice and one another. Popular in Canada, curling combines principles of darts and chess and is played on ice with players wielding brooms to smooth the passage of a rock over ice and into the “house,” which resembles a dartboard.

Schneider felt the unity that began the day players looked ridiculous on the ice and for once, didn’t pay for it in the standings.

“We’ve been a close team right from the start of the season, off the ice and on, and it was a matter of playing the same way every night,” he said. “We learned an awful lot about ourselves the last couple of months.”

Potvin’s 19-save effort in Calgary was the first of five shutouts he has recorded as a King. “If you look at a game that’s as important as any we’ve played, it was that game here,” Murray said. “If you look back now, you realize what a daunting task we had. If you look at how much you have to do, it becomes overwhelming. We never talked about needing 92 or 93 points, because when you’re at 63, 64, that looks like a lot.”

Players perked up, hoping Potvin could steal a game here and there and provide stability. Jamie Storr and Stephane Fiset had played well at times, but both suffered injuries and neither consistently made spirit-boosting, game-stealing saves.

The Kings reeled off a five-game unbeaten streak, chipping away at their deficit. After losing at Anaheim March 4, they went six more games without losing. Their penalty killing improved, thanks to Murray’s use of Ziggy Palffy and Jozef Stumpel on the penalty killing unit and because Potvin was the ultimate penalty killer.

“It’s got to start somewhere and it started around Felix,” Norstrom said. “All of a sudden guys were playing up to their potential. That’s what you want to be able to say.

“The last few games, you look around the room and everybody’s pretty quiet. They’re exhausted, because they gave everything out there and that’s the best feeling.”