L.A. DRAMA KINGS

King Coach Andy Murray knew he had to think of something profound to let his players know hope and their playoff game were not lost.

He didn’t want to scold them, for fear he’d lose them. So he told them they had manufactured plenty of scoring chances in the second period Wednesday, even though the Detroit Red Wings had a 3-0 lead and seemed poised to take a prohibitive 3-1 series lead. He talked about what they had done right and told them not to be discouraged by a few unfortunate bounces.

And he talked about the “Miracle on Manchester,” the playoff game on April 10, 1982, in which the Kings overcame a 5-0 deficit in Game 3 of their first-round series against the Edmonton Oilers and won, 6-5, on an overtime goal by Daryl Evans.

“I said, ‘We hear about it all the time, and let’s go out and do something special ourselves,’ ” Murray said. “ ‘Let’s make this building alive and play hard until the end.’

“You really don’t know, in those situations, how many of the guys are listening, anyway.”

His message came through loud and clear.

With Evans--now the Kings’ radio analyst--watching from the upper reaches of Staples Center, the Kings tied the score on goals by Scott Thomas at 13:53; Jozef Stumpel at 17:33, during a power play and with goalie Felix Potvin pulled for an extra skater; and Bryan Smolinski at 19:07, with Potvin gone again. Like everyone else in the building, Evans was stunned when Eric Belanger won the game at 2:36 of overtime and tied the series, 2-2.

“That was a huge goal, and the impact it has on the series could be major,” Evans said Thursday, after traveling here with the Kings for Game 5, to be played Saturday at Joe Louis Arena. “It’s a best two-of-three series now. Anything can happen.

“There are some similarities to what we did. It does bring back a lot of memories. I hear people saying sometimes, ‘This one’s over. It’s all said and done,’ and I know that’s not true. I said [Wednesday] the key thing is you want to come out and win the third period and set the tone for the next game. But once that first goal went in, I had a good feeling. It was just a question of whether the clock would run out before the Kings’ opportunities ran out.

“It was neat to watch. I’m a believer in those types of things, that you never know what could happen.”

The Kings’ comeback Wednesday was the fifth time since 1927 a club had won a playoff game after trailing by three goals with fewer than seven minutes to play. The Kings became the first club to do it twice: In the “Miracle on Manchester,” they trailed, 5-0, after two periods and 5-2 early in the third. Charlie Simmer scored at 14:38, Mark Hardy at 15:59, and Steve Bozek tied it with five seconds left in the third period. Evans, then a rookie, lifted a shot over the shoulder of goalie Grant Fuhr for the winner at 2:35.

Although there are many parallels between the “Miracle on Manchester” and Wednesday’s game--whatever nickname it someday will have--there are some key differences.

The 1982 Kings had 63 points and were decided underdogs against the dynamic Wayne Gretzky-led Oilers, who had 111 points. The Kings’ series victory produced the largest regular-season point differential overcome by an upset series winner, 48. This season, the second-seeded Red Wings had 111 points, to 92 for the seventh-seeded Kings, and their season series was 1-1-1.

“The Red Wings are certainly still looked upon as favorites, but the discrepancy isn’t as big,” Evans said. “The team we scored against [in 1982] was a young team, and that loss played a big role in their future success. They rebounded and won the Stanley Cup quite a few times. I think the Detroit Red Wings will respond differently in the series through their maturity and experience. They’ve been through adversity before. I expect them to be very tough.”

Evans expects this series to go the limit, as did the 1982 best-of-five series. The 1982 Kings lost the next game after their miraculous comeback, and Evans believes the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s game will determine whether the current Kings can avoid repeating that bit of history. The Kings have a two-game winning streak, but the Red Wings are 19-0-2 at Joe Louis Arena since Dec. 27, including the first two games of this series.

In addition, the Kings have lost eight consecutive road playoff games, starting with Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup finals and including Game 5 of that series, the first two games of their 1998 series against St. Louis, the first two of their series last spring against Detroit and the first two games of this series. However, the Kings have ended many futility streaks in this series, including a 14-game playoff losing streak and an 0-for-39 power-play drought.

“The team that can come out and keep its composure will have a big edge, and that’s not necessarily scoring the first goal,” Evans said. “The Kings have to go in very patient and weather the storm. The Kings have got to slow the pace down. If that means icing the puck, they should ice the puck. And they can’t go to the penalty box. Specialty teams have become a factor, and they have to be strong there. The goaltending has been a tossup. Both goalies have played very well.

“As long as the Kings can keep the game close and stay within one goal, they can win the game, and that would put a lot of pressure on the Red Wings. Sooner or later their home [unbeaten] streak has to come to an end.”

Although the Kings’ comeback Wednesday was electrifying, it can’t dislodge Evans’ 1982 feats from the hearts of King fans or the pages of the club’s record book. “I think there will always be a place for it,” Evans said. “It hasn’t been done in history before or since. I think it will still stand as one of the greatest comebacks.”