Kings Look Out for No. 1

It’s like the old Los Angeles stereotype coming to fruition.

You know, the thing about there being no depth out here.

The Kings are looking pretty shallow right now. It also looks as though that’s their only shot at winning this series.

Can they knock off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche with only one line? If the first three games of this series--including the Kings’ 3-1 victory Monday night--are any indication, that’s how they plan to do it. They’re all about Ziggy Palffy, Jason Allison and Adam Deadmarsh.

Zig, Zag and Tag.

They’ve scored seven of the team’s nine goals so far and had all three at Staples Center in Game 3.

“We’re the guys that are supposed to score on the team,” Allison said. “More nights than not, we’re the ones that should score the goals. We’re going out there and we’re just trying to give our team an edge.”

The Zigmeister did his thing early and often, scoring two goals (Nos. 3 and 4 of the series).

Allison weaved his way around, setting up shop behind the net and deftly finding the cutting players-- usually Palffy. He got the assist on both Palffy goals and scored one of his own.

Deadmarsh was putting the hurt on everyone from Adam Foote to Peter Forsberg. It’s clear that Deadmarsh is over whatever strange feelings he had about playing his former teammates after last year’s trade from Colorado. He’s more aggressive, showing absolutely no love for the Avalanche.

It’s asking a lot to expect them to compete with a replenished Colorado roster that can roll both Alex Tanguay, Joe Sakic and Radim Vrbata, and Peter Forsberg, Chris Drury and Steve Reinprecht at you.

King Coach Andy Murray must feel as if he has no choice. Assistant Dave Tippett had Palffy, Allison and Deadmarsh together in the three games he coached while Murray was recuperating from his automobile accident and they scored five goals. But Murray split them up after he returned in an attempt to bring more balance to the roster.

Now that the playoffs are here they’ve reunited.

“We just felt that we needed to have a unit that we could really lean on,” Murray said. “They played a couple of games near the end where we put them together and I thought we would go to it. We just felt it was a good combination and a good time to do it.”

They’re saddled up and ready to be ridden. Hard.

For a while, they were logging more ice time than a polar bear. With a two-goal lead in the third period Monday night, Murray could afford to send out the more defensive lines.

Because for all of their scoring prowess, the only one of the three with a positive plus/minus in the first two games was Palffy at plus one. Allison, in particular, gave up a costly goal in Game 2 when he didn’t react quickly enough on a rebound, let Forsberg beat him to the puck and score to tie it at 3-3.

But Allison made good things happen for the Kings on Monday.

He dug the puck off the boards after an early faceoff and got it to Palffy, who circled around the net and fired the puck past Patrick Roy and the Kings were on the scoreboard faster than you can say “Mikko Eloranta.”

Allison put the Kings ahead for good 43 seconds into the second period, when he took a Palffy rebound and slid the puck by Roy.

Deadmarsh assisted on Palffy’s second goal, at 8:29 of the third. He didn’t get a shot, but he did get his shots in on the Avalanche. He nailed Foote against the boards, setting off an early scrum. And he combined with Philippe Boucher to sandwich Forsberg later.

Everything about the line is clicking.

“We’re reading off each other pretty well right now,” Deadmarsh said. “My job is pretty simple. I just try to get the puck to those guys.”

And get other guys out of the way. He occupied Foote, which freed Palffy on the first goal.

“What makes Ziggy so difficult is Adam and Allison are so strong down low, you have to contend with them and that opens a lot of room for Ziggy to operate,” Foote said.

Said King center Bryan Smolinski: “Anything can happen with them. They’ve got three guys that can do it all. Both Jason and Deads are physical guys. They’re going to get it. And plus they can play with the puck.”

Something about these Kings. For the last two years, whenever they’ve been on the verge of missing the playoffs or losing a series, they come out and play their best hockey.

“We’ve been a resilient group,” Murray said. “I would just as soon come in here, 2-0.

“I think it’s because we play hard. I think it’s because we’ve been known as a team over the last few years that plays hard.”

That playing hard stuff can get old though. It was like the Philadelphia 76ers and all their talk about heart during last year’s NBA Finals--try winning some games for a change.

The Kings were on the verge of missing out on all the fun.

The Vancouver Canucks are halfway toward doing the unthinkable against the Detroit Red Wings. Montreal and Boston are taking another crack at each other in the most contested playoff rivalry in pro sports.

It seemed like the Kings’ postseason was about to end before it even began.

“You play hard all year to get a chance to play in the playoffs, you don’t let it just slide away on you,” Murray said.

Zig, Zag and Tag aren’t about to let it get out of their grasp.

Is Murray concerned about being so one-dimensional?

“Only when we lose,” he said.

Monday night, they didn’t allow it to happen.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected]