A GOOD TIE THIS IS KNOT KINGS 4, BOSTON 4.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

BOSTON - Saturday was Brooks Brothers. Sunday was Jerry Garcia.

Ask Luc Robitaille what kind of tie he prefers and he'll always say a win. He definitely would send back the tie-dyed 4-4 draw with the Boston Bruins at Fleet Center, where the Kings blew three leads and nearly lost in overtime.

And this from a guy who scored the craziest goal of the night with less than five minutes left in regulation on a shot that deflected off a Boston skate and into the net.

``There are good ties like Pittsburgh and bad ties like this,'' Robitaille said. ``We blew so many leads and made so many mistakes. Every game is so important, you can't let down like that. But we let them back in a game we had to win.''

Robitaille's 12th goal of the season gave the Kings a 4-3 lead and should have stood up.

But just 1:10 later, and with the Kings top two defenders - Rob Blake and Mattias Norstrom - on the ice, Andrei Kovalenko rebounded Brian Rolston's shot past Jamie Storr for the tying goal.

Storr, making his 16th consecutive start, often looked sluggish during the game but will start Tuesday when the Kings end their three-game trip with a game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Sunday, he saved 32 of 36 shots, none bigger than Sergei Samsanov's a minute into overtime. Samsanov beat Kings rookie defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky at the blue line and had a clear shot. But Storr made the stop and the Kings got a point for their trouble.

What made the tie more difficult was knowing the Bruins were banged up and reeling. Since Mike Keenan replaced Pat Burns as coach, Boston was 4-9-1 entering the game.

Boston was playing without its starting goaltender Byron Dafoe (knee) and top center Joe Thornton (thigh strain). Captain Jason Allison, who has been challenging Ziggy Palffy for the NHL scoring lead most of the season, was much less than 100 percent due to a knee injury.

The Kings did play the night before, tying Pittsburgh 2-2. They came away from that knowing they had completely shut down Penguins superstar Jaromir Jagr and regained some dignity from last Thursday's 6-1 loss to New Jersey.

Even with back-to-back games, the Kings clearly were in better shape than the Bruins and it showed when Palffy scored the first of his two goals just 4:14 into the game.

Palffy, who also had an assist to give him a league-high 35 points, seemed to toy with Boston goaltender Peter Skudra. Palffy skated in and waited to take his shot before wristing the puck into the left-hand corner.

``That was the goal of a goal scorer,'' Robitaille said. ``He is on such a roll right now. I'm glad he's on our side.''

It was the 18th time in 24 games the Kings (11-7-6) scored first. But it wouldn't be that easy.

The ice at the Fleet Center was awful after being covered for a Celtics game during the afternoon. Only 10 minutes before warmups, groundskeepers were attempting to resurface the ice. That helped take away the Kings' speed, but Sunday's game might have been a little payback as well.

Last season, the Kings trailed here 4-1 in the third period before rallying to tie the game in the final minute of regulation.

Dixon Ward tied Sunday's game just two minutes after Palffy's goal and Boston pulled ahead 2-1 when Ward stripped Visnovsky and passed to Kovalenko, who beat Storr.

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Photo: Boston's Brian Rolston tries to control the puck against the Kings' Jamie Storr.

Winslow Townson/Associated Press