Team Looking for Any Advantage

Have the Kings become the NHL’s postseason bad boys?

In seven of their eight playoff games the Kings have had fewer power plays than their opponent, and in six of eight they’ve had less power-play time. They played one game in which they had no power plays: Game 5 against Detroit, refereed by Kerry Fraser and Kevin Pollock, which they won, 3-2.

The only game in which they had more advantages was Game 4 of their first-round series against Detroit, when they had seven power plays and the Red Wings had five. They had 11 minutes 5 seconds’ power-play time, to 6:51 for the Red Wings. They rallied to win that game, 4-3, and tie the series.

The only other game in which they skated with the manpower advantage longer than their opponent was in their 4-0 loss to Detroit in Game 2. They had five power plays for 12:56, and the Red Wings had six advantages for 8:45.

The Kings aren’t goons. During the season, they averaged 14.6 penalty minutes a game, 13th-lowest in the NHL. They had 367 advantages in 82 games, an average of 4.5 a game; Colorado had 363 advantages (4.4 a game) and Detroit had 384 (4.7 a game).

King Coach Andy Murray suspects the second-seeded Red Wings and top-seeded Avalanche get the benefit of the doubt over his seventh-seeded team, even if it’s subconscious.

“You’d hate to think it is that,” he said. “But it’s strange to be in [seven] games and have more penalties than our opponents. . . . My bottom line is the issue is not the referees. It’s our own players. That’s something we can influence.”

The Kings are four for 28 on the power play (14.3%). In three home games they’ve had 14 advantages, and in five road games they’ve had 14. They’ve been short a man 15 times in three home games and 23 times in five road games. Overall, they’ve killed 27 of 38 disadvantages (71.1%).

Defenseman Mathieu Schneider said some of the penalties have been deserved, but questioned others.

“On the road, you’re going to get more calls against you than at home,” he said. “You have to be that much more disciplined on the road, and we weren’t. We were in the box all the time and some guys were constantly killing penalties, so that throws things off. At home, you tend to get calls.”

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King radio analyst Daryl Evans took a considerable amount of kidding from fans--some of it good-natured and some not--after he predicted the Kings would lose Game 2 of their second-round series to the Colorado Avalanche.

“I wish I had been wrong,” he said.

Although reluctant to reprise his role as official playoff oracle, Evans predicted the Kings will win today--and not because he was in a small, enclosed space with Murray when he was asked. “That’s what I believe,” he said, citing the home-crowd advantage and the room for improvement on the power play and overall offensive effort.

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Colorado goalie Patrick Roy offered a simple reason for his shutout of the Kings in Game 2 after looking so shaky in an overtime loss in Game 1.

“I talked to a lot of good people around me and they all said the same thing, ‘Go back to the basics and make one save at a time,’ ” he said. “I was so hard on myself that maybe I lost some confidence. I think I was putting too much pressure on myself.”

Roy’s shutout Saturday gave him a league-record 16 in the playoffs. He had been tied with Clint Benedict, who had 15 shutouts for the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Maroons between 1919 and 1928.

“I think Patrick made a big statement when he told [reporters Friday] he wasn’t playing up to his standards,” Colorado Coach Bob Hartley said. “He raised the bar [in Game 2]. It’s not a surprise. Once again, he’s proved why he’s the all-time goalie.”

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Center Joe Sakic needed several stitches to close a wound on his foot after the skate blade of a King cut him late in the second period of Game 2. Sakic did not play while the Avalanche was on a two-man advantage late in the middle period, but returned in the third to score on a breakaway for his first point in the series.

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Colorado winger Dave Reid suffered a broken jaw Saturday when he was struck by a shot by teammate Ray Bourque, and he underwent surgery Saturday night. Amazingly, there’s a possibility he might play tonight. . . . The Avalanche practiced at its training facility before flying to Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. Roy practiced, as did Bourque, but only briefly; Sakic and Peter Forsberg did not skate.