A Playoff Feel for Kings, Ducks

Until the Kings and Mighty Ducks face each other in the playoffs--they would first have to make the playoffs the same year--their three games in the next 20 days can be considered their first unofficial playoff series.

It begins tonight at Staples Center. The Kings have a seven-point edge in the standings but an 0-2-1-1 streak has prevented them from seizing fifth place in the West. They miss Ziggy Palffy’s creativity, but their three-for-51 power-play slump began before the Slovak right wing suffered a sprained shoulder on a hit by Duck defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski last Wednesday. Their goalies haven’t stolen many games for them, and it may not be realistic for Stephane Fiset to carry the team when his pulled groin muscle has healed.

The Ducks, by contrast, have built a 2-0-1 streak under intense pressure, tying the Kings and defeating San Jose and Detroit. Their rejuvenated power play has converted six of 19 opportunities in the last three games and goalie Guy Hebert has stopped 117 of 123 shots in his last four starts, a .951 save percentage.

“We have to have lots of desperation in every game we play down the stretch,” Duck defenseman Fredrik Olausson said. “There’s a little more urgency when you’re on the outside looking in. . . .

“It’s in our hands. If we want to make it, I think we can make the playoffs.”

The schedule appears to favor the Kings. They have nine games left after today, seven against teams with fewer points--Boston, Atlanta, San Jose, the Ducks twice, Phoenix and Vancouver--and two against Philadelphia and Dallas, teams with more points. The Ducks’ eight games are evenly split between teams behind them, Vancouver, Nashville twice and Chicago, and ahead of them, Edmonton, Phoenix and the Kings twice.

“It all depends on their goaltending,” Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said. “Hebert has given [the Ducks] some good work in the past. It’s going to come down to goaltending for everyone. [St. Louis’ Roman] Turek played a strong game in L.A. [last Friday]. For the first half, L.A. played pretty good, but they didn’t get any breaks. . . .

“Vancouver is making a good run because [Felix] Potvin is on top of his game. The best example is Calgary. Their goaltender [Fred Brathwaite] was playing well, but he faltered. You get into these situations toward the end of the year. If your goaltender doesn’t get out-goaltended badly, you have a good chance.”

Someday, the Kings and Ducks will play a real playoff series. The next 20 days will help determine if that will happen this spring.

NOT SINGING THE BLUES

They don’t have a $60-million payroll, and they put their faith in a 29-year-old goalie who had played 55 NHL games over the last three seasons.

Somehow, the St. Louis Blues have a league-best 101 points and 1.98 team goals-against average, and they’re the only team with more points on the road than at home, 51-50.

“Consistency has been our greatest attribute,” Coach Joel Quenneville said. “That’s a compliment to our leadership.”

The emergence of the “Slovak Pak” of Pavol Demitra, Michal Handzus and Lubos Bartecko has been crucial, and defenseman Chris Pronger is having an MVP-caliber season. But Turek, acquired from Dallas last June for a second-round draft pick, has made it all work by compiling a league-leading 1.93 goals-against average and six shutouts.

“The first of the year, when he had a couple of tough games, people said, ‘Maybe he’s not the goalie we think he can be.’ But he silenced his critics,” defenseman Al MacInnis said. “His demeanor is so steady. If he lets in a goal, good or bad, it’s almost as if he says, ‘That’s enough.’ It doesn’t get to him, and you can tell by the way he continues to play.

“I hate to say anything about Grant [Fuhr, their previous starter], but our goaltending has been outstanding. Roman is younger and he’s done a great job for us.”

Said Pronger, “Every team can have a great regular season, but you make or break your career in the playoffs. A lot of people look at who won the Stanley Cup, and last year everyone said Ed Belfour had never won it, but he got his chance and he won. This year Roman will get his chance.”

Turek has never played a minute in the playoffs--in the minor leagues or the NHL.

“But I played in big games in Europe, in the World Championships and Olympics,” said Turek, who represented the Czech Republic in the 1994 Games. “I feel ready to go to the playoffs. . . . If you play well, you feel comfortable and you have confidence for the playoffs. This team feels very comfortable. You can see it in our eyes.”

IT’S GOOD TO ALMOST BE KING

When goalie Patrick Roy made his NHL debut Feb. 23, 1985, he never thought about Terry Sawchuk’s record of 447 victories.

“When you start your first season, you say, ‘I would be very happy if I could survive 10 years in this league,’ ” he said. “My objective was to have consistency throughout my career.”

Consistent winning has brought him within eight wins of tying a standard that has stood since 1970.

“That will be a great day for me,” said Roy, who has the records for playoff games played, 179, and victories, 110. “It will make me appreciate my career more when the day comes for me to retire. That day, I am going to be able to say, ‘Wow, I should really be proud of what I have done.’

“But winning the Stanley Cup is the ultimate objective that you set out year after year. That’s what you play for and maybe because when I was a kid I saw so many Stanley Cups being won in Montreal, you say, ‘That would be nice if it could happen to me.’ And when it happens to you once or twice and now three times, you like to see it happen four and five times.”

The Avalanche’s midseason slump clouded Roy’s chances of passing Sawchuk this season. The turning point was a 3-1 loss to Edmonton Feb. 29 that left the team six points behind the division-leading Oilers.

“That was a good slap in the face and makes everybody realize if we want to win, no matter how talented you could be, you have to play as a team,” said Roy, who needs three victories in Colorado’s remaining eight games for his 10th 30-win season.

Acquiring defenseman Ray Bourque and left wing Dave Andreychuk from Boston has also helped.

“We have four solid lines and a solid group on defense. That should definitely make our team better with the addition of Ray Bourque,” Roy said. “I think Ray could bring a lot to this club in the dressing room as well. He and Andreychuk, their desire to win a Cup and their experience and leadership are already a big plus for this club.”

SLAP SHOTS

Doctors hope Bryan Berard can regain some sight in his right eye, which was injured March 11 when he was accidentally struck by the stick of Ottawa forward Marian Hossa. Berard is scheduled to undergo more surgery today. In his honor, his Toronto teammates put on their helmets a sticker with a small B inside a maple leaf. . . . NHL players’ participation in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics appears likely. European hockey federations threatened to block an agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation unless the NHL agreed to pay them more for developing players drafted by NHL teams, but their resistance has eased.

In keeping with its record suspension of Marty McSorley for striking Vancouver’s Donald Brashear in the head with his stick, the NHL must severely sanction New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer for hitting Florida’s Peter Worrell over the helmet with his stick Sunday. Worrell was unhurt, but the act must be punished. That’s not to exonerate Worrell, an agitator who made a throat-slashing gesture as he left the ice. Niedermayer will have a hearing today. “It was not the thing to do. It was a mistake,” he said. “I can’t go and take it back.”

Lou Lamoriello, the New Jersey Devil general manager and 11% owner of the club, will make a few bucks from the pending sale for $175 million to YankeeNets, a holding company run by New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. The Devils and Nets plan to share a new arena in Newark, but Lamoriello may not go with them because his low-key, pinch-penny habits clash with Steinbrenner’s. Lamoriello may instead go to the Bruins.

What did the Ottawa Senators gain by trading Ron Tugnutt and Janne Laukkanen for Tom Barrasso, disrupting their precious chemistry? Ottawa’s other goalie, Patrick Lalime, didn’t speak to Barrasso much of the time both played in Pittsburgh. Barrasso played Saturday for the first time since Feb. 11, and was rusty in a 6-1 loss at Vancouver.

Interesting statistic in Florida’s 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday: The second-period shots were Pavel Bure 7, Islanders 4.