Rewriting History
DENVER — Last year, in the backs of their minds, it might have been good enough for the Kings to push the Colorado Avalanche to the brink of elimination.
Last year, after overcoming a 2-0 deficit to upset the Detroit Red Wings in the first round, it might have been good enough for the Kings to erase a 3-1 deficit against the Avalanche and necessitate a Game 7, only to lose it.
Last year, it might have been good enough to come so close.
But this year, “We’re trying to write our own story,†defenseman Aaron Miller said. “We’ve worked so hard just to get an opportunity to play in Game 7, and now we’ve got to take another step and go out there and win it.â€
This year, the Kings want a happier ending against the Avalanche.
They again have wiped out a 3-1 deficit, and Game 7 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series will be played tonight in the Pepsi Center.
Center Bryan Smolinski called it “gut-wrenching†to watch on television as the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup championship last June, only a few weeks after the Kings had lost in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.
This year, almost for the Kings will count for nothing.
“We didn’t believe in ourselves last year, I don’t think, as much as we do this year,†defenseman Mathieu Schneider said. “I think we were trying to slay a giant last year. This year, we feel that we’re on equal ground....
“This year, we played well against them all season long. And with the playoff series we had against them last year and the way this series has gone, we feel that we’re just as good a club as they are.â€
Only 16 of the 190 teams that have lost three of the first four games of a best-of-seven NHL playoff series, or about 8%, have rallied to win the series. The other three teams that faced that situation this month--the Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks--all were eliminated in Game 5.
The Kings, meanwhile, are trying to repeat their feat of 1989, when they rallied from a 3-1 deficit to upset the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Edmonton Oilers, in Wayne Gretzky’s first playoff series with the Kings.
They have won only one of their last nine road games but it was the most important, their 1-0 overtime victory Thursday night in Game 5.
They won Game 6 on Saturday at Staples Center, 3-1.
After giving up nine goals in the first two games, 4-3 and 5-3 losses, they’ve given up only three in winning three of the last four, their only loss a 1-0 setback in Game 4. They’ve killed 16 consecutive penalties, last giving up a power-play goal in the first period of Game 2. Felix Potvin’s goals-against average over the last four games is 0.75, his save percentage is .972.
“We’re happy with the way we’ve played defensively,†said center Jason Allison, whose first-period goal off his right leg sparked Saturday’s victory. “We feel that if we can keep playing the way we’re playing and shut them down, we have a great chance of winning.â€
Allison suffered hand and leg injuries on the same second-period play Saturday, getting slashed by Mike Keane a split-second before behind crunched along the boards by Rob Blake, but he returned and will be in the lineup tonight.
“I’ll be able to play,†he said. “It’s Game 7, the most fun game of the year.â€
The Kings, however, again will be without injured regulars Adam Deadmarsh and Philippe Boucher, neither of whom made the trip.
Avalanche Coach Bob Hartley was noncommittal when asked about the status of Peter Forsberg, who sat out Game 6 because of a leg injury, but when teammate Joe Sakic was asked if Forsberg would play, he said, “I believe so.â€
Last season, the Avalanche broke open a 1-1 game by scoring four goals in the third period of a 5-1 victory in Game 7 against the Kings.
This is a new day, however, with a different, more confident King team.
“I think last year we didn’t really kind of believe that we deserved to be where we were,†Miller said. “We were playing well, but it was almost like it was a fluke or a one-time thing, whereas this year we’ve focused on where we are all year.
“We’ll be extremely disappointed if we don’t win this game, whereas last year ... I thought maybe everyone felt that what we’d done was good enough. This year, we think we deserve to win this series.â€
Go beyond the scoreboard
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