RALLYING POINTS

Felix Potvin sympathized with Patrick Roy’s inability to stop the fluttering shot by Glen Murray that gave the Kings a 1-0 double-overtime victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday and tied their second-round playoff series at 3-3.

“I know how he feels. I have some of those coming on me,” Potvin said of Murray’s shot, which dipped before glancing off the inside of Roy’s right leg and crossing the goal line. “That’s a pretty tough shot to stop.”

Potvin, however, found a way to stop all 33 shots launched at him Sunday. He is the reason the Kings made the playoffs, and his shutouts in Games 5 and 6--when he narrowed his own universe to only the puck, himself and his desire to keep the Kings’ postseason run alive--are the biggest reasons the Kings can advance to the Western Conference finals against the St. Louis Blues if they defeat the Avalanche on Wednesday at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

“We know we can win in their building, and just as importantly, they know it too,” King Coach Andy Murray said Monday at HealthSouth training center, which was nearly deserted after he had given his players a rare day off. “They know we can play hard, and it’s our objective not to disappoint them.

“We have a chance to play Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I would say about two months ago, we would have taken those odds.”

The Kings are 3-2 in seventh games, although they haven’t reached such a crucial stage since 1993, when they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the seventh game of the conference finals. They previously lost a Game 7 to Minnesota in the quarterfinals in 1968, defeated Oakland in the quarterfinals in 1969, lost to Boston in the quarterfinals in 1976 and defeated Edmonton in the first round in 1989.

The Avalanche, known as the Quebec Nordiques before the 1995 move, has a franchise record of 2-4 in Game 7 but has lost its last three such tests--in a 1998 first-round series against Edmonton, the 1999 conference finals against Dallas and the 2000 conference finals against Dallas. The Avalanche was outscored in those games by a cumulative 11-3, with the last two losses on the road. Road teams are 34-31 in the playoffs this spring.

Potvin is 3-2 in Game 7 appearances, but he has not been under such duress since May 19, 1995, when he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and lost to the Chicago Blackhawks. Roy is 2-5 in Game 7 appearances and has lost his last four, starting with a 5-3 loss to Boston while with Montreal on April 29, 1994. He has lost his three Game 7 starts with the Avalanche.

“I think a lot of things can happen in Game 7,” said Potvin, who added he had recovered from the fatigue that rendered him unable to talk to reporters after Sunday’s game. “It can go either way. We’ve got to play the same way we did in Game 5 and Game 6. Now, it’s going to be a little different for their guys. We’ve got to approach it the same way we did in Game 5 and Game 6.”

To think the Kings could upset the second-seeded Detroit Red Wings in six games and have the top-seeded Avalanche muttering about failing to score for 164 minutes 28 seconds over three games almost defies comprehension.

Their acquisition of Potvin from Vancouver Feb. 15 for a fifth- or sixth-round draft pick was considered a desperate stab at remedying their inconsistency in goal, their most crucial weakness. Several veteran goalies were available at the time, but Murray said the Kings liked Potvin’s experience, which Potvin manifests in his unflappable manner on and off the ice.

Since a 5-0 loss to Edmonton in his debut Feb. 20, Potvin never has looked back. Through the last 23 games of the season and 12 nail-biting playoff games, he has given his teammates confidence he will back them up if they make mistakes, and they have supported him with fine defensive work and the occasional timely goal.

When he arrived, he sensed the Kings were poised to make a strong playoff push and needed only some encouragement to get them started. Potvin provided it.

“The mood was, once we realized we could make the playoffs, everybody realized that once you make the playoffs, anything can happen,” he said. “After we were down, 2-0, against Detroit, we got a great commitment from the team. We just put ourselves in position where we can win one more game.”

He hasn’t often been spectacular, but that’s not essential. If he has to be extraordinarily acrobatic, that means his teammates aren’t doing their jobs by limiting the number of dangerous shots he faces. He has faced 160 shots in the series, 17 more than Roy, and has a 1.85 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage in the six games. Roy’s goals-against average in the series is 1.36, with a .937 save percentage.

“I think everybody is feeding off each other,” Potvin said. “You see guys play as hard as they do, hitting and blocking shots, you want to play hard.”

If that means playing until there’s almost no breath and no sweat left in his dehydrated body, he will do that. Besides, he has had no choice, because Roy also has been exceptional.

“I know [Sunday] night Patrick was playing great, like he did in Game 5,” said Potvin, who grew up a Nordique fan and so hated Roy and the Montreal Canadiens, instead idolizing feisty New York Islander goalie Billy Smith.

“Right from the start, I had the feeling maybe one goal would win the game. They’re fun games to be in. . . . I know when he’s playing well, you have to be on top of your game. It’s not more nerve-racking--it makes it easier to focus. When he’s down there making saves, it makes it a lot easier for me to make saves, that’s for sure.”

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The Cat’s Meow

Some playoff tidbits about King goalie Felix Potvin:

Potvin is riding 164 minutes 28 seconds of shutout goaltending, and has stopped the Avalanche’s last 62 shots.

Potvin is the first King goaltender to post consecutive playoff shutouts, also making him the team’s all-time leader in postseason shutouts with two. The only previous shutouts in King playoff history are Rogie Vachon’s 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Flames on April 8, 1976 and Terry Sawchuk’s 2-0 victory over the Minnesota North Stars on April 6, 1968.

Before Sunday, Colorado had not been shut out in consecutive games over a span of 287 regular-season and playoff games dating to Oct. 14, 1998.

Potvin was in goal when the Toronto Maple Leafs had three 1-0 victories over the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1994 playoffs.

Potvin is 3-2 in Game 7s in his career. Patrick Roy is 2-5.

The Avalanche franchise last won a Game 7 in 1985, when it was the Quebec Nordiques.