Kings’ Next Stop: Avalanche Country

Scenarios varied as to where the Kings would land for the opening two games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Colorado, San Jose. All were possible destinations.

About an hour after the Kings held off the Mighty Ducks, 1-0, at Staples Center Sunday, travel plans were finally in place. The Kings’ first-round series would open where their playoff run ended a year ago: Denver.

The Kings, who finished with 95 points and earned the seventh seed in the Western Conference, will face the defending champion Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 Thursday at 7 p.m. PDT.

Of course, from Coach Andy Murray’s seat, the final day of the regular season was not about which team the Kings were going to draw, but which team was going to draw the Kings.

“I don’t think anyone is licking their chops to play us,” Murray said. “It’s not la-la land here in L.A. any more.

“There was a time when the Stanley Cup was viewed as something for Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, New Jersey, teams like that. That circle now includes the L.A. Kings, it includes the Vancouver Canucks. The circle has eight teams in the Western Conference that can win the Stanley Cup.”

Of course, no one was hoping to be that No. 8 team and open the playoffs in Detroit, home of several future NHL hall of famers. The Kings made sure they were not bound for the Motor City, getting past the Ducks in front of 18,349, their 19th consecutive sellout.

Goalie Jamie Storr, starting for only the second time in 22 games, stopped 23 shots for his second shutout. Ziggy Palffy chipped in a power-play goal three minutes into the third period. And the Kings made do with just five defensemen, as both Mathieu Schneider and Jaroslav Modry were too sick to play.

That was all the Kings needed to close out the season with the fourth-highest point total in franchise history. They are in the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

“I don’t know if there was always an expectation here in terms of winning,” Murray said. “When you hear [players in] Colorado, San Jose and Detroit saying what a tough team the Kings are and that we’re their rivals, those are good things to hear. I would prefer to have the pressure to win than be on the other side of it.”

The other side is the Ducks, although they, too, can claim some success. The Ducks did not finish last in the conference, as they did last year, but tied for 13th after a 15-13-2 run in their last 30 games. Still, the Ducks missed the playoffs for the seventh time in nine seasons.

There was a point where the Ducks were ahead of the Kings in the standings, back on Nov. 8. That changed rapidly as the Kings were able to overcome a poor start by going 32-13-7-2 since Dec. 8.

“We were outside looking in until December,” King defenseman Mattias Norstrom said.

The Ducks still have their noses pressed against the playoff glass. But they did match the Kings stride for stride Sunday. Both teams were business as usual on the power play, which provided the margin of victory.

The Ducks have the NHL’s worst power play and were scoreless in five tries.

The Kings finished with the league’s top power play and showed why early in the third period. With Aris Brimanis off for holding the stick, Jason Allison circled behind the net and tried to jam in a shot. Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere made the save, but had no chance on the rebound, as the net was left wide open for Palffy.

It was Palffy’s team-high 15th power-play goal. It was Allison’s league-high 32nd power-play assist.

Storr took care of the rest in extending the Kings’ home unbeaten streak to 11 games (9-0-2). He wasn’t tested often, but turned away good opportunities. That included a sprawling save in the second period against Steve Rucchin. “When you sit that much you don’t play if you sit back in practice,” right wing Ian Laperriere said. “Jamie showed today how hard he works in practice.”

His reward is to go back to the bench for the playoffs, as Felix Potvin will start against the Avalanche. Storr and the Kings can only hope he will have a front-row seat for a couple of months.

“We’re not going to be happy with just going one or two rounds,” King forward Adam Deadmarsh said. “That’s not why we wanted to make the playoffs.”