Edmonton Goes for the Icing : NHL playoffs: Kings, facing elimination in second round again, could get a lift tonight from Sandstrom.

The hockey player glided easily across the ice at a Culver City rink Thursday.

He casually flicked a puck into an open net, pulled up, slapped a shot off the glass and then took off, effortlessly it seemed, his hands on his knees as he skated in a half circle.

To the casual observer, he seemed to be a man enjoying a leisurely spring afternoon, free from the pressures of the world.

Hardly.

Tomas Sandstrom is dealing with a world of pressure, both physical and mental.

For one thing, he was skating only four days after suffering a small fracture above the right knee.

For another, the King wing knows that his team, trailing the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1, in the best-of-seven Smythe Division finals, desperately needs him tonight for Game 5, scheduled for 7:30 at the Forum.

So will he be out there?

“I don’t know,” Sandstrom said after skating for about 20 minutes Thursday, his second day in a row on the ice. “It’s kind of tough to tell. (The leg) is still pretty sore.”

To play, Sandstrom would have to get used to playing while wearing a leg brace.

When he was hurt last Saturday in Game 2, the result of a hit by Edmonton defenseman Craig Muni, it was assumed that Sandstrom would be lucky to be back in a month.

But because the fracture is small and in a non-vital area of the bone, and because he has a high tolerance for pain, Sandstrom was given clearance to begin skating by team physician Steve Lombardo.

Sandstrom is expected to skate again this morning and then undergo another examination by Lombardo. A decision will be made then.

“I won’t rule it out,” Coach Tom Webster said of the possibility of Sandstrom’s return tonight. “If there is any guy who could do it, he is the one. It would give us a very big lift.”

But don’t expect a Willis Reed performance.

Reed, a center for the New York Knicks, made a dramatic return to the 1970 NBA finals in Game 7 despite a serious leg injury. It was only a token appearance, but it was enough to provide the emotional spark that enabled the Knicks to beat the Lakers that night.

No such move for him, said Sandstrom.

“If I can’t help the team, I can’t just go out there and put on the skates,” he said.

His team certainly needs help.

The first line of Sandstrom, Wayne Gretzky and Tony Granato had 116 goals in the regular season, with Sandstrom contributing 45 to tie for team-high honors with Luc Robitaille. The Kings had 340 goals, meaning the first line accounted for more than a third of them.

It is tough enough for the Kings in this series, facing Oiler goalie Grant Fuhr, who is displaying the form that enabled Edmonton to win four Stanley Cups in the 1980s.

But without their big first line, the King offense has been strangled.

Among them, Gretzky, Granato, Sandstrom and replacement Ilkka Sinisalo have one goal in this series.

And that was scored by Sandstrom.

“They instinctively play off each other,” Webster said of his first line. “They don’t have time to look and see what the others are doing. With the chemistry of those three, if you take one away, it affects the other two.”

Whether or not Sandstrom returns, other problems remain. Gretzky had to play Game 4 with the left side of his face numbed with a painkiller after requiring 25 stitches for a deep cut of the left ear, the result of being hit by a puck in Game 3. It has not been determined whether Gretzky will need medication tonight.

Forward Bob Kudelski, who sprained a knee ligament in Game 2, will not be back this season.

And even Webster is hurt, his right arm swollen after having been hit by an errant puck on the bench Wednesday night.

Nobody on this team, it would seem, is safe.

Webster, however, knows he will be on the job tonight.

He just hopes he can say the same for Sandstrom.

Kudelski commented for the first time Thursday on his injury, also caused by Muni. Muni claimed it was a hip check, but the tape clearly shows the Edmonton defenseman tripping Kudelski.

“It didn’t look like a hip check to me, and I lived it,” Kudelski said. “Maybe he stuck his leg out because he didn’t want to get beat, he didn’t want to look silly.

“I was shocked there was no penalty. I thought, ‘What the heck is that?’ ”

Kudelski has watched the past two games on television, but it’s no fun.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “You’re sitting home with your leg up in the air and an ice bag on it. It’s tough.”

The biggest disappointment in this series has to be Oiler center Mark Messier. Last year’s Hart Trophy winner has only two points in the four games--one goal and one assist--and has been guilty of some sloppy stickwork on the power play.

But this happened last spring as well. In both the conference finals against the Chicago Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup finals against the Boston Bruins, Messier started slow, took some heavy criticism in the media and then upgraded his game.

As if the Kings don’t have enough to worry about.

King Notes

The Oilers continue to struggle on the power play in this series. They were one for six Wednesday, making them two for 22 in the four games. . . . Fans attending tonight’s game should use ticket 3B.