Did Ref Have Bad Intention?

After hearing an explanation from Denis Morel, supervisor of officials for Thursday night’s playoff opener against the Colorado Avalanche, the Kings at least know why a first-period goal by Craig Johnson was disallowed.

But it did little to mollify them.

Referee Stephane Auger waved off the goal, which was scored on a rebound from a scrum in front of the net, because he had intended to blow his whistle to stop the play, believing that goaltender Patrick Roy had covered the puck.

At least, that was the explanation given the Kings by Morel, King Coach Andy Murray said Friday, mulling his team’s 4-3 loss.

“It’s not satisfactory when you lose the game by one goal,” Murray said. “Obviously, we feel there was a poor judgment made by the official. He’s in a tough spot. He’s a young referee, calling his first playoff game, I believe.

“But we watched the replays and he has the whistle at his mouth during that whole scrum in front of the net. It’s not like something he had to bring up from his side and blow it. If he wanted to blow it, he could have blown it earlier. He didn’t. He blew the whistle when the puck was in the back of the net.”

Said Johnson: “I guess that’s their excuse. But I can’t use that [excuse] if I intended to cover my guy out in front of the net [and he scores].”

*

Bryan Smolinski was glad to finally put a puck past a goaltender but disappointed that his third goal since Jan. 5, his first not scored into an empty net, came in a loss.

“It was bittersweet,” he said of his second-period goal, which cut the Kings’ deficit to 2-1. “Great play by Cliffy [Ronning] coming into the zone there [before feeding a pass to Smolinski in the left faceoff circle]. I was just able to slide it underneath [Roy]. It was a big lift and I was glad to be a part of it.”

Jerry Crowe

*

With Rob Blake leading the way with four shots on goal, Avalanche defensemen accounted for eight of the team’s 31 shots against King goaltender Felix Potvin in Game 1.

Expect more of the same today.

“When we get a chance we want to keep jumping into the play,” said defenseman Martin Skoula, who had an assist on Colorado’s second goal Thursday. “But we don’t want to make stupid mistakes by jumping when it is not there.

“[The Kings] cover the three forwards really good. [In Game 1] we wanted to help generate more offense by jumping into the play and get that extra fourth guy involved.”

During the regular season, Blake ranked among the league’s top defensemen in scoring with 16 goals and 56 points.

But it was veteran Greg de Vries who scored the lone goal by an Avalanche defenseman in Game 1.

“Our decision making was very good,” Colorado Coach Bob Hartley said. “Our defensemen were very involved and worked well with our forwards.”

Having defensemen helping out on offense can sometimes lead to easy goals by the opponent. That happened twice to the Avalanche in Game 1 on goals scored by the Kings’ Ziggy Palffy.

“At times, we were very aggressive for no reason,” Roy said. “But overall we did a good job. We won a lot of the physical battles.”

Added Hartley: “Two of the goals we gave up did come on plays when a defenseman jumped into the play. But that’s part of our plan. We want our six defensemen to have the green light to move in as long as they use common sense and feel that it is worth it. Sometimes, that does backfire on you.”

*

Colorado forward Alex Tanguay fell short of expectations during the regular season with 13 goals and 48 points.

But Hartley stuck with him and put him on the Avalanche’s top line with Joe Sakic and rookie Radim Vrbata. Tanguay rewarded his coach Thursday with one of his best games of the season.

“Sometimes you have to give a guy a tap on the back or a kick in the butt. I think it’s safe to say that [Tanguay] got both during the season,” Hartley said. “It’s a fresh start for everyone and the way Alex played in Game 1, I thought he was dominant. He was first to the puck, had lots of energy going to the net and he was great on the forecheck.”

*

Forward Milan Hejduk, who sat out the last 20 games of the season because of an abdominal injury, practiced Friday with the Avalanche and took part in contact drills for the first time in nearly two months. Hejduk will not play today but probably will return if the series goes beyond four games.

Lonnie White