A RALLY FIT FOR KINGS ENDS IN A VICTORY KINGS 7, OTTAWA 6.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

OTTAWA, Ont. - The Kings spent the first 20 minutes Tuesday night searching for their legs. Instead they found something far greater. Their heart.

Rather than write off an early four-goal deficit to the road and the potholes of a long season, the Kings mounted an epic comeback against the Ottawa Senators that ended fittingly with a 7-6 overtime victory on Bryan Smolinski's third goal of the game.

No one deserved the high-fives in the raucous Kings dressing room more than Smolinski, who has emerged from an undistinguished season to become the Kings' top player the past three weeks.

Smolinski, who never had an overtime goal in his nine-year career until Tuesday, has played on the first, second and fourth lines this year. He has been a center and a left wing. He has been in the doghouse and the penthouse, sometimes in the same game.

``I don't think about where I fit best,'' Smolinski said. ``I just think about helping the team win. This was a great win for us.''

Smolinski's game-winner was his 15th goal of the year and helped the Kings forget Senators leads of 4-0, 5-1 and 6-5. In the past month he has been the guy in the corners, digging for loose pucks and setting up his more famous teammates.

The sellout crowd of 18,264 at the Corel Centre was stunned. The Senators have the best record in the Eastern Conference. But like their last trip, when they opened with a stunning victory over St. Louis, the Kings opened by beating a better opponent.

It took awhile. Before the game they made a surprise switch, starting Steve Passmore in net instead of Jamie Storr. Passmore was battered for five goals on 15 shots before he was removed in favor of Storr midway through the second period.

Shane Hnidy had just scored 19 seconds after Smolinski's first goal. The score was 5-1 and the Kings were in tatters.

``I made the move because I wanted to start Steph in Toronto,'' Kings coach Andy Murray said. ``It is his hometown and I thought he could give us a lift. But we needed a lift now.''

Storr made a couple of quick saves to restore order. And in less than two minutes, Mathieu Schneider, Smolinski and Rob Blake all scored. Luc Robitaille made it 5-5 with 45 seconds left in the period, when, flat on his stomach in front of the net, he poked the puck between Ottawa goaltender Patrick Lalime's pads.

For Robitaille, it was his 20th goal and just his second in the past 13 games. But it also gave him 573 goals for his career, tying him for 13th place all-time with Hall of Famer Mike Bossy.

``We are a team that can score,'' Storr said. ``I just wanted to keep it simple, go one play at a time. We started to build something and it was my job to keep it going.''

All the momentum seemed to shift, though, when the Senators went back on top 6-5 at the 10:14 mark of the third period on a goal by Karel Rachunek. But the Kings weren't done. Just 1:22 later, Robitaille scored his second of the game on a backhander past Lalime on an assist from Ziggy Palffy.

Two minutes into overtime, Palffy was there again, but on a strange assist that typified the Kings' effort.

As Smolinski raced up the ice, Palffy set a pick at the red line by mixing it up with Hnidy. Smolinski took the opening and beat Lalime.

``He hit me so I hit him back,'' Palffy said with a smile. ``This win was fun. Not the 4-0 part, but the winning part. It was wild and I felt so good for all of us, but especially Bryan. They have played him all over the ice, all different positions. And there he was tonight, doing it all.''

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Photo: Luc Robitaille is tripped up by Ottawa's Shane Hnidy and Andreas Dackell during Tuesday's game. Robitaille's scored two goals in the Kings' victory.

Tom Hansen/Associated Press