STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS : All Great Things Must Come to an End : Flames Sweep Kings Aside With 5-3 Win in Game 4

An hour after the Kings had been eliminated from the National Hockey League playoffs, after they had been beaten, 5-3, Monday night on their own ice as the Calgary Flames completed a four-game sweep of the best-of-seven Smythe Division finals, Bernie Nicholls was still dressed for action.

He still had his helmet on. Still had his skates laced tight.

“I just wish there was one more period,” Nicholls said. “I can’t believe it’s over.”

It was fun while it lasted, but the giddy celebration of ice hockey that began last August will cool for a while.

Wayne Gretzky’s first season in Los Angeles is history, brought to a halt by Gary Roberts’ second goal of the night, an empty-net goal that iced the Flames’ victory over the Kings with just three seconds to play.

But as the Great One said: “We’re disappointed we lost, yet it was a big step. We went from being a team that didn’t have a whole lot of respect to a team that did have respect.”

There were some thrills. There were some hockey highlights in L.A. this season.

The Kings did, after all, finish fourth overall in the league, one point out of third place, after placing 18th the season before.

And they did pull off an amazing come-from-behind run of three consecutive victories to win the divisional semifinal series over the Stanley Cup defending champion Edmonton Oilers.

Along the way, Gretzky and his new teammates gathered a following for hockey in Los Angeles. No small feat. They drew 24 sellout crowds to the Forum during the regular season and then six more during the playoffs.

Gretzky had the Kings, and the fans, believing that they could win the Stanley Cup.

The sign in the stands said, “We Believe in Miracles,” as the Kings fought desperately to make up a 4-2 deficit in the third period.

The crowd roared when King defenseman Steve Duchesne scored his second goal of the game just 16 seconds after Al MacInnes went to the penalty box for tripping. The shot came from the top of the right circle to beat Calgary goalie Mike Vernon and put the Kings within a goal at 9:41 of the third period.

But they couldn’t get the goal that would keep the party going.

The Flames, the team with the best record in the league this season, were just too much.

But no one headed for the parking lot early. The fans were on their feet looking for that miracle until Roberts put the game away.

Nicholls was looking for it, too. He was expecting the big finish. The heroics the Kings had in their triumph over Edmonton. He really thought the series would go seven games. Would have bet his house on it.

Losing isn’t new to him after all the years he has been with the Kings. But it’s different now.

“I felt we should win this series,” Nicholls said. “It feels worse when you expect to win and you can’t.”

All of the Kings were tracing the turning point in the series back to Game 1, the game that they led by a goal until the final minutes and ended up losing in overtime.

As goalie Kelly Hrudey said: “They got a lucky bounce (off a metal support above the boards) in the first game, and the momentum switched. We were back on our heels from that point, and we just couldn’t overcome it.”

In Gretzky’s opinion: “If we win Game 1, all the pressure is on them. When they won it, it was like a big block of pressure was lifted off them.”

Flame center Joel Otto agreed: “The Kings showed a lot of heart against the Oilers, and coming into this series, they had the early edge. But after Game 1, the edge shifted toward our side.”

After losing the first game, the Kings dropped two straight in which they were clearly outplayed. But Monday night they fought back.

Gretzky tied the game, 2-2, on a power play, getting his only goal of the Calgary series.

He also had an assist, his 17th since the playoffs began, on the Kings’ first goal, just 1 minute 23 seconds into the game, when he held the puck on the right side and waited for Steve Duchesne to skate into range. The goal came on the first shot of the game.

The Kings’ early lead lasted about six minutes before a power-play goal by Joey Mullen tied it and left Hrudey fuming at referee Denis Morel. The King goalie didn’t like the way Otto was diving on top of him while Mullen was picking up the rebound at the left corner.

Two minutes later, there were Flames everywhere in front of the net and Hrudey was down again when little Theoren Fleury circled behind the net and sent the puck out front to Roberts, who flipped it into the back of the net despite being tangled with Duchesne.

Gretzky broke the tie by deciding to take a shot himself for a change, sizing up the crowd in front of the net, going behind the net in and then skating back out to put it between Flame defenseman Rob Ramage and King winger Luc Robitaille while Vernon was screened.

Though the Kings did manage to get out of the first period with the score tied, there were hints of their demise. Such as the Flames’ 11 shots to the Kings’ five. And the ill-timed, high-sticking penalty that Ken Baumgartner drew at 16:14, just after the Kings had killed a roughing penalty on Marty McSorley.

Then there was the way Kings let the Flames take control despite having a power play. As the period wound down, Mullen somehow managed to get the puck in the midst of three Kings and get a shot that brought Hrudey sliding out of the crease. Nicholls had to kneel in front of a second shot to save a goal.

But it was not until the end of the second period, with just 48 seconds left, that the Flames took the lead, 3-2, on a power-play goal by Joe Nieuwendyk. Jumping on the chance to score while Robitaille was in the penalty box for hooking Hakan Loob, Nieuwendyk ignored the jolting check from defenseman Tom Laidlaw, reached out with his stick, gathered up his own rebound and flipped it right back at Hrudey for the score.

The way the Kings played all season, one goal just leads to another, which just leads to another.

But the Flames shut them down.

Vernon said: “The Kings had good shots, and we held them to (11) goals in this series. That’s a major accomplishment, considering the Kings were the highest-scoring machine in the league. . . . It’s really exciting to go head-to-head against the best.”

King Notes

Wayne Gretzky’s first-period goal Monday night made him the highest scorer ever in the playoffs. It was his 86th career playoff goal, passing the record of 85 held by Mike Bossy. . . . Gretzky finished the playoffs with five goals and 17 assists. . . . Jimmy Carson, the former King who was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in the deal for Gretzky, watched Monday night’s game from King owner Bruce McNall’s box. . . . Monday’s victory was Flame goalie Mike Vernon’s 11th straight against the Kings, including all four in the sweep of this series.