Finally, Roy Is Standing in the Way

Stand this column on its head.

Prop the Kings up against a wall.

Patrick Roy is in the house.

Four games into the Colorado Avalanche’s first-round series with the Kings, hockey’s best goalie finally showed up.

No coincidence, then, that the Kings’ season is about to disappear.

Inspired by the most incredible burly-guy gymnastics this side of Bela Karolyi, the Avalanche defeated the Kings, 1-0, to take a three-games-to-one lead with Game 5 scheduled for Colorado on Thursday.

On a desperate Tuesday night, the largest hockey crowd ever at Staples Center oohed and arrghed and gritted 18,700 sets of teeth.

But admit it.

You knew this was coming.

During the first three competitive games of this series, two of which the Kings could have easily won, you complained about the officiating, and fretted about the defense.

But you knew.

It was all coming down to the best money goaltender in hockey history.

Sooner or later, as happens seemingly every spring, that 6-foot, 180-pound body was going to morph into something the size of Shaq.

Sooner or later, the Kings were going to throw 32 shots on goal, and 56 shots of any sort, and desperately fight for three hours in front of a net....

And that net was going to have a door on it.

And that door would be Roy.

Tuesday was that time.

“The same thing we’ve seen around for years,” said Colorado’s Joe Sakic, shrugging. “That’s just Patty being Patty.”

During a second period that decided the game, though, it seemed something even more. Almost like Patty being Sawchuk, Patty being Dryden.

During one incredulous two-minute stretch, he stopped five power-play shots that seemingly flew at him from every mathematical angle.

Two shots he knocked away with his gloves, including one on a direct shot from Mathieu Schneider. Three more he stopped with his pads. All of them were accompanied by giant Staples Center gasps.

By the time the barrage ended, with the game still a scoreless tie, the Avalanche knew.

“He was in a zone,” Sakic said. “When he gets like that, you know what’s going to happen.”

And what happened was, a couple of minutes later, the Avalanche scored the only goal of the game when former King Steven Reinprecht slapped in his third goal of the series through a couple of wandering King defensemen.

Just wondering, but all those fans who constantly boo Rob Blake, shouldn’t they also start booing the guy who was traded with him?

Many of those fans were busy also chanting, “Pa-trick, Pa-trick.”

Even that cartoon character on the giant video scoreboard was chanting, “Pa-trick, Pa-trick.”

At least until the third period.

All that time, somebody should have also been chanting “Zig-gy” or “Ja-son.”

Palffy and Allison, who dominated the Avalanche in Game 3 and are expected to be consistent leaders, combined for one shot on goal.

Linemate Adam Deadmarsh, who sat out most of the third period because of a head injury suffered when trying to knock Adam Foote into the boards--yeah, head missed Foote--had four shots.

None of it was close to the seven goals and nine assists produced by that line in the first three games of the series.

Part of the reason was that the Avalanche sent a defenseman to shadow Palffy at every turn. Another reason was that the Avalanche essentially tried to knock the snot out of them.

“We played more in-your-face hockey,” said Foote.

Of course, the biggest reason was Roy, who, no, doesn’t mind listening to his name.

“I hear the fans, but it doesn’t bother me,” he said with a grin. “I think Rob is even getting comfortable with the boos.”

After a difficult three games, Roy said comfort was his biggest goal.

“My objective was not thinking,” he said, perhaps one key to being hockey’s all-time leader in playoff shutouts with 20.

He led the league during the regular season with a 1.94 goals-against average, the best year of his storied career at age 36.

But he allowed nine goals in the first three playoff games against a Kings’ team that already averaged about three goals against him each game of the regular season.

In other words, he walked into the building Tuesday like Greg Maddux taking the mound with a 6.00 ERA.

“I tried not to let negative thoughts get in my head like they did earlier,” he said. “I tried not to think about my butterfly, or how I was moving, or anything like that.”

When somebody asked him to expound on those negative thoughts, the interview was over.

“I don’t want to talk anymore about that, OK?”

Enough said.

In the final minutes Tuesday, Dancing Boy held up a Roy poster and tore it in half, the crowd roaring its approval.

It’s just as well.

If Patrick Roy plays one more game like this, the Kings certainly won’t be seeing him again until next year.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected].