Chances Rest With Hobbled Allison

Long after the Kings lived to skate another day, the meaning of that day came into stark and startling focus.

The prospects for Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche weren’t found on the crowded Staples Center ice but in a near-empty adjoining hallway.

The center of the Kings’ hopes wasn’t surrounded by cheers, but the quiet and slow clacking of shoes on the concrete.

His name is Jason Allison.

When he left work Saturday, he was badly limping.

Long after leading the Kings to a 3-1 victory in Game 6, Allison’s pained departure added even more tension to a series that is already thick and sweaty with it.

We have Andy Murray gesturing and screaming at Colorado Coach Bob Hartley in the final minute for sending out his thugs.

Said Murray: “I just said, ‘C’mon Bob, you’ve got to have class.’”

Said Hartley: “My parents always told me not to waste your time on 4-foot-6 guys.”

Said Murray: “I’m just over 5-10.”

We also have Colorado’s Brad Larsen flattening Andreas Lilja with five seconds left in the game, then Colorado’s Darius Kasparaitis tangling with Kelly Buchberger with two seconds left, all this bad blood trickling toward Monday night’s game at Colorado.

“Monday is gonna be huge,” said the Kings’ Mikko Eloranta. “I can’t wait for that day.”

We have the Kings trying to join the 8% of NHL teams that have rebounded from a 3-1 deficit to win a playoff series, while the confused defending champs face Stanley Cup-sized humiliation.

“They have all the pressure on them,” said the Kings’ Eric Belanger.

But more than anything, we have Allison trying to hold it all together.

His injured leg. His injury-filled team. That rascal of a coach.

“I don’t want to get into it, I’ll be fine,” Allison said of what appeared to be a hip or leg injury. “Lots of guys have bumps and bruises. I’ll do what it takes.”

Considering the game was about 48 hours from the time when he was struggling down that hallway, it will take something considerable.

Considering Allison dominated the ice again Saturday, scoring the first goal off his leg and knocking Colorado guys everywhere, the Kings desperately need a healing.

“He’s running the show here,” said Bryan Smolinski, who also scored.

The Avalanche players have figured that out. It should be no surprise that Allison’s injury was caused by the guy who probably knows it best.

It wasn’t quite a passing of the torch, it was more like a thumping of the butts.

But, yes, late in the second period, that was Rob Blake who spun around and flattened Allison against the boards.

Old standards crushing new ideals. Past heroics nailing future hopes.

Blake skated off to defeat.

Allison staggered off to victory.

Blake has no goals and two assists in this series, with a minus-two ratio.

Allison, with many more chances, still has an impressive three goals and three assists, with a plus-four ratio.

King fans are thrilled that their new leader is every bit of Blake, but with a little more punch.

“When your superstar is out there hitting people, the average player thinks, ‘I’ve also got to be hitting someone,’” said the Kings’ Ian Laperriere.

After the hit, Allison nearly collapsed, barely hanging on to the boards before being helped to the dressing room before the end of the period.

He missed half of the third period, then showed up and skated a few shifts, but appeared tentative.

The Kings need this like they need a hole in the Zamboni.

Adam Deadmarsh is out. Philippe Boucher is out. Ziggy Palffy has been nullified.

From the time he smacked Eric Messier just moments into Saturday’s game, until the time he gave late interviews in a back locker room so nobody would see him stand up and limp, Allison showed again that he is the tough-guy leader of this team.

“You’re talking about a guy who thrives on the pressure games,” said Eloranta.

And a guy who hasn’t missed a game since being traded here in November.

No doubt, he’ll be on ice Monday in Colorado.

The Kings only hope he can fly like Hartley’s mouth, as the Colorado coach later took a few cheap shots at Murray in the manner of his few cheap-shot players.

“You listen to the radio, you watch TV, you read the paper, and it’s Andy, Andy, Andy all the time,” said Hartley. “He’s the guy that gets the most coverage in the first round when you guys should be focusing on ...”

Hartley then listed just about every person in the house but Dancing Boy, followed by one more shot directly into the Kings’ dressing room.

Of Murray’s allegedly publicity seeking, Hartley said, “Even his players are fully aware of this.”

It’s difficult to see how Hartley could know what the Kings are thinking, seeing as he obviously can’t figure out his own underachieving team.

It’s also difficult to imagine that he could forget the emotion involved in trying to push a seventh-seeded team into the second round.

While Hartley certainly has earned the right to send in his thugs to finish a game, Murray also has the right to complain about it.

It’s what good coaches do. It’s about propping up your team as it fights for its breath. It’s about walking the walk.

It’s not personal, it’s hockey.

Hartley’s comments make you wonder if his suddenly uncomfortable team has become distracted from that fact.

Besides, if he’s talking about Monday night in Colorado, Hartley has it all wrong.

It’s going to be about Jason, Jason, Jason.

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