Officials Decide That Late Start Is Preferable to Alternative

An 8:40 p.m. faceoff for Game 3 in Staples Center, less than 3 1/2 hours after the Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers ended their basketball game and 34 1/2 hours after the Kings and Red Wings played Saturday in Detroit was no one’s idea of a good time.

But it beat the alternatives, according to Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner.

“In terms of building availability and the options we had, this was the best we could do,” said Bettman, who watched the pivotal Game 3 between the Kings and Red Wings in person at Staples.

“My guess is this building is overbooked.”

The Kings, Red Wings and the league would have preferred to have played Game 3 today, but the Clippers host the Phoenix Suns tonight. Tuesday was out because the Lakers host the Denver Nuggets. Wednesday was deemed to be too long to wait for Game 3.

“If we had a choice we would have played earlier [Sunday],” Bettman said. “We could have played at 8, but we didn’t want to take the chance.”

At the league’s request, ice guru Dan Craig arrived at Staples on Saturday to work on the conditions before the basketball court was set down for the Laker game.

“Actually, the basketball court was taken off, so Dan could work on the ice, then the court was put down again,” Bettman said. “They [arena management] deserve credit for turning it over as quickly as they did tonight. They did a fine job.”

Bettman said the alternative to a late start Sunday was to play an unbalanced series, with the Red Wings hosting the first three games before the series shifted to Staples. The Kings were opposed to that scenario, however.

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Steve Yzerman, the Red Wing captain, confirmed suspicions that he is more seriously injured than originally believed. In addition to an ankle injury, Yzerman told Detroit reporters he has a broken left index finger.

The Toronto Sun reported that Yzerman has a broken left ankle. Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said Yzerman has a “low ankle sprain.” Bowman denied the Sun story.

Detroit played its second consecutive game without Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan, who is sidelined indefinitely because of a broken bone in his left foot.