Red Wings, Recent History Stand in the Way of Kings

The Kings aren’t about to embark on a mere playoff series. They’re about to begin a mission.

Their 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames Saturday in their season finale, coupled with the Edmonton Oilers’ 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, wedged them into seventh place in the Western Conference and set up a first-round matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. History, both recent and as ancient as last spring, suggests this is not a good thing.

The Red Wings are 17-0-2 at Joe Louis Arena since Dec. 31 and swept the Kings in the first round last spring, holding the Kings 0 for 23 on the power play. Their 49 victories--including one against the Kings in a 1-1-1 season series--is second in the NHL to the 51 racked up by Colorado, and their 111 points is also second to the Avalanche.

“They’re a great team and we’re going to have to play hard,” said Luc Robitaille, who set up Glen Murray’s winner Saturday. “It’s the same [if it were] Dallas and the same for St. Louis.”

Not to King Coach Andy Murray.

Murray, whose team rallied from a 2-1 deficit Saturday at the Pengrowth Saddledome and earned at least a point in 15 of its last 16 games, finds extra motivation in facing the team that dismissed him from the playoffs in his head coaching debut. He’s determined to make sure history isn’t repeated in this series, whose schedule will be finalized today. The latest speculation had Games 1 and 2 at Detroit Thursday and Saturday, with Game 3 Sunday at Staples Center.

“I think our players have something to prove against Detroit,” Murray said. “I don’t think we have to issue a challenge against Detroit--we have to issue a challenge to ourselves.

“Some of our players who didn’t play well in that series last year have something to prove.”

Winning a game would be a good start. The Kings have lost 12 consecutive playoff games since they won Game 1 of the 1993 Stanley Cup finals against Montreal, having been swept by St. Louis in 1998 and Detroit last spring. The Red Wings shut them out twice and outscored them, 15-6.

“It would feel good to win a game, yeah,” said Robitaille, one of the few Kings who acquitted himself well last year, with two goals and four points.

“I like the way we’re going in to these playoffs. We’ve played a lot of 2-1 games and 3-2 games, so we’re used to playing tight games.”

Said right wing Nelson Emerson: “Obviously, Detroit has really got it going right now, especially at home. We’ve got to go in there and try to continue doing what we’ve done the last couple of months.”

Although the Kings had clinched a playoff berth Thursday, Felix Potvin wanted to play to keep a steady rhythm. He stopped 31 shots to improve his record as a King to 13-5-5.

“It was important to finish with a win,” he said. “You don’t want to have a loss sitting in your mind the next five days. A win puts you in a better frame of mind.”

The Kings survived a scare at 13:02 of the second period, when defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky was slashed on the left knee by the Flames’ Clark Wilm and suffered temporary numbness in a nerve. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher, but a team spokesman said the Slovakian rookie suffered only a bruise. He did not return.

The Kings took the lead on Ziggy Palffy’s team-leading 38th goal, at 6:22 of the first period, but the Flames tied it at 15:57, when Oleg Saprykin lifted a backhander over Potvin. The Kings had a chance to pull ahead when Palffy was awarded a penalty shot--Denis Gauthier had slashed him to blunt his chances of scoring on a breakaway--but Palffy held onto the puck too long and backhanded it into the outside of the net.

Calgary took the lead at 19:03 of the second period, after Derek Morris intercepted a Palffy pass and shot from long range. Valeri Bure corralled the rebound and backhanded it past Potvin.

The Kings pulled even 37 seconds into the third period on a point-blank shot by Adam Deadmarsh, set up by Jozef Stumpel. Murray scored his 18th goal with a slap shot from the right wing with 4:09 left in the third period, clinching the Kings’ 38th victory and 91st and 92nd points. That’s one victory and two points fewer than they had last season.

What matters to them is they feel more confident than they did a year ago.

“Last year will be in our minds,” Emerson said. “We want to go in and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”