Kings Rebound Nicely

Resilient to the end, or at least to what many surely believed would be their end, the Kings dramatically extended their season Thursday night.

Felix Potvin turned aside 26 shots and Craig Johnson scored 2 minutes 19 seconds into overtime, giving the Kings a 1-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series.

In front of the usual sellout crowd of 18,007 at the Pepsi Center, defenseman Jaroslav Modry fired a shot at the charging Johnson and happily saw it deflect off his right skate and past Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy.

The victory, which ended an eight-game road winless streak, cut the Kings’ deficit in the series to 3-2, with Game 6 on Saturday at Staples Center.

“They say only good things happen when you put the puck on the net,” Modry said. “I saw Craig wide open in front of the net and tried to hit him. It worked out good. He’s a hero and we’re going back home for Game 6.”

A reluctant hero, maybe. Johnson said he only got in the way.

“I was just trying to get to the net and hopefully get a deflection,” he said. “Mo did a great job to get it on net, and I found some open space and luckily it went in.”

The real hero, he said, was Potvin, whose shutout was the eighth of his career in the playoffs, his third by 1-0 in 12 playoff games against the Avalanche.

The play of Potvin and the defense in general helped the Kings win on the road for the first time since March 18 in a game they started without wingers Adam Deadmarsh and Cliff Ronning, sidelined because of injuries, and ended without defenseman Philippe Boucher, who left in the first period after suffering an eye injury.

“We’re a dedicated group,” Johnson said. “We’ve had our backs to the wall all year. We’ve fought hard. We just wanted to play another day.”

Only 16 of the 186 teams that had lost three of the first four games of a best-of-seven NHL playoff series before this season, or 8.6%, had rallied to win the series, but one was the Kings, who did it against the Edmonton Oilers in 1989.

And, faced with the same predicament last season, the Kings won Games 5 and 6 against the Avalanche, both 1-0, before losing in Game 7.

“I don’t have to remind our team of anything,” King Coach Andy Murray said before the game. “They know what’s facing them tonight. They know that we’re going to see a formidable opponent, a very determined opponent on the ice.

“Our feeling is that we don’t have to win the series tonight. We have to win one hockey game, and we’re more than capable of that.”

After last season, the Avalanche didn’t need to be reminded.

“You never want to let an underdog stick around any longer than possible,” Avalanche winger Dan Hinote said. “Every game that they’re here, they’re going to get stronger, just like they did last year.

“Obviously, that’s in the back of our head. We know that’s part of their character. They don’t ever give up, whether it’s 3-1 or 2-0. It would be us not learning from the past if we were to ignore it. We learned from it, and we know what to expect.”

Avalanche Coach Bob Hartley also knew what to expect, but he said what happened last year would have little bearing on Thursday’s game.

“We don’t live in the past,” the coach said. “Elvis is dead.”

Despite their predicament, the Kings are still very much alive in the series, though struggling to put the puck into the net.

They hadn’t scored against Roy since the second period of their 3-1 victory Monday night in Game 3, a span of 153 minutes 50 seconds.

Already without Deadmarsh and Ronning, who didn’t make the trip, they watched Boucher skate off with 4:41 to play in the first period after a shot by Avalanche defenseman Darius Kasparaitis caromed off either teammate Stephane Yelle or King defenseman Mattias Norstrom and struck Boucher above the right eye.

The Avalanche, meanwhile, hasn’t fared a lot better against Potvin. By the time the game ended, they’d scored one goal in more than 176 minutes, though Steven Reinprecht’s second-period goal Tuesday night at Staples Center was enough for a 1-0 victory in Game 4.

Not even power plays helped. The Kings’ league-leading unit, which had scored once in only six opportunities in the first four games of the series, had the man-advantage twice in the second period but managed only two shots.

The Avalanche also was 0 for 2 through two periods. It was soon 0 for 3 after its third opportunity expired 17 seconds into the third period.

About five minutes later, Avalanche captain Joe Sakic rang a shot from the left point off the crossbar. With 7:43 left in the period, the Avalanche was given another opportunity, after King defenseman Mathieu Schneider was called for elbowing Alex Tanguay, again putting the home team on the power play.