Attitude Is Giving the Kings Altitude

Of all the spectacular plays he could have shown to inspire his players before Friday’s practice, King Coach Andy Murray chose one of the least likely moments from a momentous game.

He replayed none of the goals from the Kings’ 4-3 overtime victory over Colorado on Thursday at the Pepsi Center in the opener of their second-round NHL playoff series. Instead, he cued up a play on which Ziggy Palffy, near the end of a shift and gasping for breath, found the will to push between defenders Ray Bourque and Adam Foote, forcing Foote to drag him down and take a holding penalty 13:30 into sudden-death play.

That’s the same Palffy who had gotten his stick up in Foote’s face at 15:10 of the third period, giving the Avalanche a power play it capitalized on to tie the score. The same Palffy who had no shots and no points in regulation time.

“Ziggy was dead tired, but he had determination to try and beat Foote,” Murray said. “That was the last clip we showed.”

Palffy’s tenacious effort, which led to Jaroslav Modry’s power-play winner at 14:23, was a metaphor for the Kings’ collective performance in winning a club-record five consecutive playoff games and taking a 1-0 series lead into today’s game at the Pepsi Center.

They have sometimes sputtered and they have sometimes made their task more difficult than is good for Murray’s blood pressure or their fans’ sleep quotient, but they have repeatedly overcome adversity. All five of their playoff victories have been by one goal, including three in overtime. In their first seven playoff games they’ve been outscored by a cumulative 7-3 in the first period and 8-6 in the second period, but they’ve outscored opponents, 7-5, in the third period and 3-0 in overtime.

“We have the whole team going,” said center Jozef Stumpel, who faked Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy out of position before passing to the right side to Modry for a long shot that eluded Roy to his left on the decisive goal.

“Everybody wants to be part of the win, and that’s the key. It’s like the whole organization is pitching in. You don’t get so tired because winning gives you more . . . energy.”

The Kings have been a different team since they lost the first two games of their first-round series to Detroit. It’s not that their power play has come to life--it was three for 20 against the Red Wings and one for four in Game 1 against the Avalanche. And the penalty killing is still subpar. Colorado was one for five, but that one was Peter Forsberg’s tying goal with 4:30 left in the third period.

What they’ve changed, mostly, is their attitude.

It’s no secret they wanted to dump the puck softly into the Detroit zone to make goalie Chris Osgood play it--or misplay it--and put pressure on the Red Wings’ defense. Nor is it a secret they want Roy to handle the puck and try to pressure the Avalanche’s defense.

The biggest difference is the growth in their confidence and resilience. Once apt to fall apart at the slightest misfortune, the Kings have come to see adversity as a challenge, not a pitfall. They don’t have a captain, but they have players who have learned to welcome responsibility and not fear it.

“It’s more believing we can do it, especially after we won the first game at home against Detroit,” Modry said, referring to a 2-1 victory in Game 3 that ended a 14-game playoff losing streak.

“We said, ‘That tastes great. Let’s do this again.’ Winning tastes much better than losing.”

Said Palffy: “After we lost the first two games to Detroit, everybody was thinking the same thing was going to happen as last year [a four-game sweep by Detroit]. We came back to win those next two games, and that was key.”

That they’ve won without a game-stealing performance by goaltender Felix Potvin is even more remarkable. Potvin was solid Thursday in making 34 saves, 24 of them in the first two periods. He was certainly sharper than Roy--and he must retain that edge for the Kings to continue their roll.

“We didn’t play as well as we wanted to the first two periods,” Potvin said. “They outplayed us in the second period, but the important thing is we kept them to one goal in the second. . . . It was important for us to come out strong to start this series. We didn’t want to go down, 2-0, like we did against Detroit.

“We got one. We’re happy we got one, but we can focus now on winning Game 2.”

Four players have scored the five game-winning goals--Stumpel in Game 3 against Detroit, Eric Belanger in the Kings’ 4-3 overtime comeback in Game 4, Adam Deadmarsh in Game 5 and again in overtime in Game 6, and Modry on Thursday against Colorado. Twelve players have scored at least one goal, and 16 of the 20 skaters who have played a game have recorded a point. The big scorers aren’t the only ones making big plays, a good omen for the Kings as they face a team with formidable depth and skill up front.

“We’ve been getting goals from a lot of different guys, and that takes pressure off Ziggy and Stumpy and those guys,” said defenseman Mathieu Schneider, whose seven assists put him second in team scoring to Stumpel’s three goals and eight points.

“That’s what becomes the difference in winning and losing in the playoffs, because the checking gets tight. Modry has been a big part of this team all year and he didn’t get the recognition he deserves. Part of that is playing in L.A. If he were in a city like Toronto, he’d get recognition. We have to continue to get that kind of production from everyone in order to be successful. It’s part of becoming a team.”

Especially a winning team. “This is a new season,” Modry said. “I don’t think you play in the playoffs for money. You play for the memories, for being with your teammates and for pride.”

GAME 2 TODAY

KINGS at

COLORADO

Noon, Channel 7

THE HOLE

TRUTH

Patrick Roy, playoff goalie extraordinaire, is beginning to look vulnerable. D4

FRIDAY

ST. LOUIS: 4

DALLAS: 2

Blues lead, 1-0