Mile-High Kings

OK, L.A., if we’re going to get serious about hockey, the first step is to eliminate full names.

In hockey they never use a player’s full name, especially when you can add a “y”, an “s” or an “r” to the end of a nickname.

So Lucky, Lappy, Stumpy and Deader are getting ready to take on Blakey, and oh, baby, it’s gonna be on.

Uh, J.A., what the heck are you taking about?

I’m talking about Luc Robitaille, Ian Laperriere, Jozef Stumpel, Adam Deadmarsh and the boys. I’m talking about the Kings. Isn’t everybody?

What about the Lakers?

They’re talking about the Kings too.

Guard Derek Fisher was at Staples Center on Monday night when the Kings finished their first-round series against the Detroit Red Wings with a 3-2 overtime victory.

“It was fun to see and be a part of,” Fishey said.

The Kings win not only a playoff game but a series for the first time since 1993 and now everyone wants to be a part of it.

Can I get in on this?

The Kings welcome them all. They’re not going to hate you if you’re late. They’re enjoying this. Lappy even got a shout-out from a passing car on his way to Ralphs to get a newspaper the day of Game 6.

“I’ve been here five years and it hasn’t happened too often,” Lappy said.

But the Kings are saving most of their love for the ones who’ve always backed the purple and black.

“There’s a lot of die-hard Kings fans in this city,” Coach Andy “the Bus Driver” Murray said. “Certainly, it’s nice to have all the attention, but the thing that you look at is the people that have really been behind us all the time, and you feel good for them.”

Lucky has spent 12 of his 15 NHL seasons in L.A., so he knows how things work here. You want respect, you want attention, you’ve got to produce.

“That’s what this city expects,” Robitaille said. “They like winners. They like people that give all that they have.”

Doesn’t that describe the Kings?

You betcha. They might not have the full depth and experience of the top-notch teams (do you actually think they would have hung in as well as the Red Wings did if they had to go most of the way without the equivalent of Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman?), but Lucky and Ziggy Palffy rank among the top scoring combinations in the league and they’re getting solid efforts from the entire roster.

Felix Potvin got the Kings into the playoffs with his great goaltending after he arrived in February, but the Kings played so well that he didn’t have to be wonderful against Detroit.

The key was Deadmarsh, who set the tone early by constantly charging the net. Once his teammates caught on, they were bringing the effort necessary for playoff victories. And Deadmarsh got the ultimate reward for his efforts: a chance for the tying and winning goals Monday, simply by going after the puck and scoring off the rebound.

“That’s always the way I’ve tried to play,” Deader said. “I learned to play that way in Junior. Coach really installed that in my brain to drive hard and forecheck hard and that’s the way I had to play, that’s the way I’ve been trying to do that ever since.”

After the game, Deader seemed more excited about getting back to Denver to see his two infant girls than he was about the victory. When the twins were mentioned he had that proud papa look on his face. When he came to the Kings in the big Rob Blake trade, not only did he go from a top Stanley Cup contender to a team on the fringes of the playoffs, he had to leave the newborn twins, Alexis and Madison. That hurt. And because they were born slightly premature, they weren’t declared fit to travel. He made it home three or four times, but now he gets to see them five days in a row in the middle of the postseason. Talk about your playoff bonuses.

The flip side of this is that Blake is coming home too, right?

That makes this series even better. As angry as King fans are at management for shipping him out because they failed to reach a contract agreement with Blake, the team might be better off now. After Wayne Gretzky left and Blake became the man for the Kings, he never led them to a single victory in the playoffs.

Can the Kings win another series, or will they be satisfied?

Ask Lucky.

“We have enough guys here that played this game long enough to know that’s not enough,” he said. “We all want to keep going. Are you kidding me? This is too much fun. We want it to keep going. We don’t want it to stop.”

The Kings have a little status now. They might get some breaks from the officials. Heck, the refs might even talk to Murray. It was pretty extraordinary to hear the legendary Scotty Bowman say his Red Wings were just happy that they “didn’t get trampled,” that at least they kept it close and didn’t go out like the Philadelphia Flyers (losing 8-0 in their final game at Buffalo).

Don’t forget the Shaq Factor.

Shaquille O’Neal taped a short inspirational clip in which he urges the Kings to hit somebody, then shows the way by banging into the walls of the Lakers’ practice court.

The spot went over well when it was played during Game 6 Monday (even the players noticed that), and O’Neal was pleased to hear that. Although he has never been to an NHL game, “I like that sport, because they let you fight,” Shaqie said. “I wish I could fight in the NBA. There wouldn’t be certain things going on. I’d knock some players and some coaches out.”

Although O’Neal said he has never laced up a pair of skates, the Kings wouldn’t mind recruiting him for their games.

“We’ll put him out without skates,” Lucky said. “Just with some spikes right in front of the net.”

Just to entice Shaqie, I reminded him that Anna Kournikova, the object of his not-so-secret crush, has a thing for hockey players.

Then again, everyone likes hockey players these days. It’s the newest fad in L.A.

*

J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: ja.adande@latimes.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Paying the Price

The Kings won the last four games against Detroit by improving their averages in these categories:

*--*

Category Games 1-2 Games 3-6 Shots 25 27 Blocked shots 15.5 16.3 Penalties 7 5 Penalty minutes 14 10 Face-offs won 46% 52% Hits 43.5 46.5 Takeaways 2.5 7.3

*--*