ZERO GRAVITY

Andy Murray once coached a goalie who would sit in the dressing room between periods, motionless, with a towel covering his face.

“I would walk past him and think, ‘I’ve got to depend on this guy?’” Murray recalled.

Jamie Storr, the Kings’ backup goalie, lies on the floor between periods with legs up and eyes shut and hands swinging wildly as if stopping hundreds of imaginary pucks.

A veteran once looked down at him and said, “If they get that many shots, we don’t have a chance.”

Cut through the 25 pounds of armor and endless choruses of bravado and the average NHL goalie can be described in one word.

Creepy.

That’s why it’s either very reassuring--or very chilling--that between periods, Felix Potvin does nothing.

“He just sits there,” said Murray, shaking his head.

Doesn’t talk. Doesn’t move.

Nobody knows what he’s thinking.

Everybody is afraid to ask.

“I don’t think I want to know,” Ian Laperriere said.

Here’s hoping that for the man nicknamed “The Cat,” those thoughts have lately been of a different nature.

Goose eggs.

Last spring he pitched consecutive shutouts in the playoffs against the Colorado Avalanche.

This year, with a defense that has been struggling lately, he may need to do the same.

Last year, in a brilliant postseason while leading the Kings to within a game of the third round, he had a 2.44 goals-against average.

This year, it will need to be even better.

Potvin cannot be blamed, actually, if he’s thinking about only bull’s-eyes.

There is a big one painted on his chest pads as the Kings begin their Stanley Cup travels Thursday against the defending champion Avalanche.

“In the playoffs, you will only go as far as your goalie will take you,” Laperriere said.

As goalies go, Potvin is a hot one.

But his opponent is the downright face of the sun.

Felix Potvin, meet Patrick Roy.

Whether you like it or not.

“I’m not playing against him, I’m playing against the forwards,” Potvin said.

Yeah, right, whatever.

We know about Roy, with his four Stanley Cups and 137 postseason victories and interesting habit of talking to the goalposts.

Do we know about Potvin, with no dishware and 32 postseason victories?

“I don’t understand what’s going on inside his head, and I don’t even try to figure it out,” Murray said. “I just know I want more pucks to hit him than go behind him.”

Every goalie is an island. But Potvin is the sort upon which Gilligan once lived.

He’s quiet, careful, distant.

We know that when he was dumped here by Vancouver last season after three consecutive lousy seasons, everyone thought he was finished.

“We were in a no-choice situation,” admitted Murray.

We know that Potvin then stunned everyone by regaining his Toronto touch and leading them to a second-round seventh game against the eventual champion Avalanche.

And we know that this season, he has pretty much done it again.

With 71 games played this year, he broke the club record held by Rogie Vachon.

His 2.31 goals-against average is a career best, his six shutouts equal a career high, and he teamed with Storr to form the sixth-most effective goaltending group in the league.

But what about now?

A goalie can have a great regular season, but if he struggles in the postseason, the stain is as dark as the ones that cover his sweater.

In many ways, Potvin’s task is clearly more difficult.

Is he up for it?

Murray can only guess.

“I never say anything to Felix other than, ‘How’s your family doing?’” Murray said. “I give him his space.”

His teammates can only guess.

“Every goalie has got to be a little bit off in the head,” Laperriere said.

Potvin frowns. He says it’s not that complicated.

“I just want to win a Stanley Cup,” he said. “I’m 30 years old now. How many more chances like this am I going to get?”

He said he’s playing well because Murray makes it easy to play well.

“The atmosphere here is good, because we’re always so prepared,” he said.

He said he plays nearly every game--more than all but three other NHL goalies, eight more than Roy--because that’s his nature.

“I have all summer to rest,” he said.

Is he tired?

“No.”

Is he sore?

“No.”

Is he going to outplay Roy and lead the Kings to a second consecutive first-round series upset?

I think we all should just lie on the floor with our legs up and our eyes shut and our hands swinging wildly until we find out.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.