Kings Show What They’re Made Of

Carpe diem.

Translated from the Latin, it means--for the Kings’ purposes--seize the Detroit Red Wings by their throats and shake them until Game 4 falls from their grasp. Pick up momentum from Wednesday’s victory and fly to Detroit for Game 5 inside overheated Joe Louis Arena.

Suddenly, in any language, with a second consecutive King victory, this series would truly be worth watching.

When it looked like it would never happen, when the Kings trailed by three goals with less than seven minutes to play, they finally pounced the way they hoped they would.

Game 4 was a puzzler.

Detroit scored three times with the man-advantage, but the Kings ended their power-play drought at 16 by getting goals from Scott Thomas and Jozef Stumpel to draw close. Bryan Smolinski’s goal with 53 seconds remaining and goalie Felix Potvin on the bench in favor of a sixth skater tied the score at 3-3 and sent Staples Center into a frenzy.

Really, the only question as the teams headed to overtime was what took so long?

The Kings never had a better crack at knocking off the Red Wings, shutting down Hockeytown after only one postseason round for the first time since the San Jose Sharks torpedoed them in 1994.

After all, the Red Wings were without captain Steve Yzerman and winger Brendan Shanahan, their leading scorer in the regular season with 76 points. Yzerman has a bum ankle and Shanahan has a broken bone in his foot.

But wait, there was more.

Grinder Darren McCarty re-injured his left ankle in Game 3 and The other day after practice, defenseman Chris Chelios’ left thumb looked as dead as downtown Detroit on a Friday night

In other words, the moment arrived Wednesday for the Kings to strike. Seize the moment. Seize the day. Seize the momentum. Chances such as these don’t come along very often.

“I think we understand now the kind of commitment it takes to be successful in the playoffs,” veteran forward Stu Grimson was saying the other day. “It’s nice to see some reward for our efforts. We intend to make this a long, grueling series.”

The Kings’ hearts and heads seemed to be in the right place to start Game 4. They drew energy from a sellout crowd of 18,478 and from bone-crunching checks thrown by feisty winger Ian Laperriere against Detroit defenseman Jiri Fischer. The Kings buzzed Chris Osgood’s net, creating a sustained attack in the opening moments, when the tone of a game is often set.

“For us, it’s really important to learn how important these little battles are,” Grimson said. “We have to approach every battle as if it could be the key to the game. It’s a very important lesson to learn. The small details of the regular season become turning points to games in the playoffs.”

For the Kings, turning points went against them in stunning fashion to start the second period. They were already down, 1-0, when referee Mick McGeough whistled King defenseman Aaron Miller for high-sticking Tomas Holmstrom 27 seconds into the second period. At the 1:15 mark, McGeough nabbed Potvin for roughing Verbeek.

Now there are two ways to look at McGeough’s calls if you’re a King or a King fan. First, they were highly questionable. Second, they were merely debatable.

At first glance, it seemed Holmstrom ducked into the path of Miller’s stick as the two battled for position after a faceoff in the King zone. Next, Verbeek planted himself in Potvin’s crease during a scrum near the left goal post and wouldn’t leave. Potvin finally thumped him to get him moving.

McGeough easily could have let both infractions go.

Spying an opening, the Red Wings raced through to seemingly put the game and the series out of reach. Defenseman Steve Duchesne ripped a shot from the slot at 1:19 for a 2-0 Detroit lead.

Vyacheslav Kozlov banked a shot from the right wing off the stick of Miller and past Potvin at 2:51 for a 3-0 lead.

Certainly, there was plenty of time for a comeback. But the bounces refused to go the Kings’ way in a frustrating middle period.

The Kings’ power play, their downfall in two blowout losses in Games 1 and 2 in Detroit, failed again. They spent more time chasing the puck around the ice than getting their power play set up in front of Osgood.

Luc Robitaille got a shot past Osgood, but the goalie got enough of the puck to send it fluttering off the left goal post.

Smolinski freed himself of Red Wings on the right wing, but didn’t get all he wanted on his shot and sent it off the outside of the right post.

The final 20 minutes loomed as another exercise in futility, the 15th playoff loss in the Kings’ last 16, dating to Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup finals against the Montreal Canadiens.

But the Kings seized the final moments of the third period, scoring three times and forcing overtime.