Angelenos Demonstrating Support for the Club During Playoff Run

It’s probably the biggest day in downtown L.A. since they paved the streets.

The Kings play Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche at 6:30 tonight at Staples Center, hours after the Lakers host Sacramento in Game 1 of their second-round NBA playoff series.

As a result, 11th Street, which runs along the north side of Staples, will be closed for a street festival between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The Kings and Lakers share the same arena, the same practice facility and the same city. But only recently have the Kings begun to capture the imagination of a town that has had a long-running love affair with the Lakers. A crowd estimated at about 30 greeted the Kings at LAX when they returned about midnight after Friday’s 1-0 victory in Game 5 at Denver.

“It’s great to see the Kings on TV every day and on the front page of the newspapers,” winger Ian Laperriere said. “Usually, we only get a little corner of the paper. It’s great to be recognized. My neighbors had a party [Friday] night and they came out of their house when I came home and said congratulations. You can feel the support.”

Defenseman Mathieu Schneider has been talking hockey with some of his neighbors while walking his dogs.

“The fans have been tremendous at all our home games,” he said.

Winger Nelson Emerson’s neighbors had streamers, balloons and signs that read “Go Kings Go” all along his street before Game 4 against the Avalanche.

“It’s funny how in the last month the community has gathered around the hockey team during playoff time,” Emerson said. “It’s great to see how L.A. gets so involved in its teams.”

Felix Potvin continues to be one cool Cat.

Although the Kings were locked in a scoreless tie with the Colorado Avalanche through two periods Friday and a loss would have ended their season, Potvin thrived under the intense pressure.

“It was a fun game to be in,” he said Saturday at HealthSouth training center. “A game that’s 0-0 going into the third is always fun. It’s better if it’s 7-0, but 0-0 games are fun games to play because in those games it’s easy to stay focused.”

All six of the Kings’ playoff victories have been by one goal, but Potvin doesn’t mind having almost no margin for error. “That’s all right,” he said. “All that matters in the playoffs is wins. You just focus on what’s ahead. In the playoffs, numbers don’t matter.”

He also said he’s not tired after starting the last 23 regular-season games and 11 playoff games since his King debut Feb. 20. “They’ve been doing a good job resting me in between games,” he said. “Once the playoffs are over, I might be a little tired, but now, you don’t have time to feel tight.”

And although he gets no royalties from those Felix the Cat plush toys fans have brought to Staples Center in his honor, he does get a kick out of them.

“It’s fun to see,” he said.

King Coach Andy Murray said he liked the physical element defenseman Andreas Lilja brought to Friday’s game and will use the 25-year-old rookie again tonight.

“I think the most nervous guy in the building was Bruce Boudreau, his coach in Lowell [in the American Hockey League],” Murray said. “I had said to Bruce, ‘If he gets beat one-on-one, I’m going to look up in the press box at you.’ He was shaking all day. [Lilja] was steady. He did what Bruce said he would do.”

Colorado’s Ray Bourque, 40, has led both teams in ice time in three of the five games. He played 29 minutes 2 seconds in Game 2, 30:55 in Game 3 and 30:51 in Game 4. Teammates Rob Blake (32:50 in Game 1, which included 14:23 of overtime) and Adam Foote (29:23 in Game 5) played the most in the other two games. The most playing time for a King was 32:24 for Mathieu Schneider in Game 1. . . . The Avalanche is 11-9 in games that can clinch a playoff series since it moved to Colorado before the 1995-96 season. The franchise’s record in would-be series clinchers since it began in Quebec City is 18-16. . . . Colorado is a combined 17-10 in Games 5, 6 and 7 of a seven-game series.

THE SERIES

Avalanche leads, 3-2

* Game 1: Kings 4, Colorado 3 (OT)

* Game 2: Colorado 2, Kings 0

* Game 3: Colorado 4, Kings 3

* Game 4: Colorado 3, Kings 0

* Game 5: Kings 1, Colorado 0

* Tonight: at Kings, 6:30, FSN and ESPN2

* Wednesday: *at Colorado, 7 p.m., FSN and ESPN2

* if necessary; all times Pacific