ADVANTAGE AVALANCHE MISTAKES, BAD LUCK FOIL KINGS COLORADO 4, KINGS 3.

Byline: Karen Crouse Staff Writer

When playing a team as good as Colorado, bad penalties and bad bounces are a death knell. The bell rang balefully for the Kings on Monday in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal against the Avalanche.

Four minor penalties took the Kings out of their rhythm in the first period, an unfortunate bounce set up a Colorado goal by Peter Forsberg in the second and Jon Klemm finished the Kings off in the third with the decisive goal in the Avalanche's 4-3 victory.

Forsberg's goal typified the Kings' luck on a night when they were finally able to force Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy to make a few highlight-reel saves. King defenseman Mattias Norstrom lost the puck along the boards and it skittered off the skate of a linesman and onto the stick of Hejduk, starting a rush that Forsberg ably finished.

Hejduk would score on a feed by Forsberg in the ninth minute of the third to extend the Avalanche's lead to 3-1. The Kings came storming back on a power-play goal by Glen Murray that the Staples Center sellout crowd of 18,478 was still celebrating when Jon Klemm scored 33 seconds later to take all the excitement out of the building.

Ziggy Palffy gave the crowd back its collective voice by scoring a goal with 40 seconds left. That's as close as the Kings could get on a night when Roy made 22 saves to help the Avalanche to its first-ever victory at Staples Center and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Rob Blake, as beloved as anybody to wear the captain's ``C'' when he was a King but booed repeatedly in his return to the ice upon which he once reigned, answered the arctic welcome with a cheap shot.

He fired the puck from 75 feet in the fifth minute of the first period and it inexplicably went in. Kings goaltender Felix Potvin made the stick save but the puck dribbled behind him before he could smother it.

Blake's shot from beyond the blue line was a slap to the Kings fans who booed him lustily every time the puck touched his stick.

Is there any doubt that the melting pot that is Southern California is a parochial place when its sports fans will cheer Gary Sheffield and boo Blake?

Anyway, there was no denying Blake's goal was soft as a pillow. Potvin could have been expected to stop it in his sleep the way he has been playing. He had stopped 92.6 percent of the Colorado shots he faced to that point, including rebounds of the rebounds of screened first shots.

Blake's shot was the 69th Potvin had faced in the series. Roy, by contrast, had seen only 45 shots in the same span. He was like a left fielder watching the game unfold a good distance in front of him until late in the first when Blake and Adam Foote took penalties within six seconds of each other to engage Roy.

The Kings had converted only one of their first nine power plays in the series but a 2-man advantage proved too good to mess up. Mathieu Schneider sent the puck from the point to Ziggy Palffy, who was parked to the left of Roy.

Palffy froze Roy, then tapped the puck across the crease to Robitaille. The 15th-year veteran poked it past Roy, who couldn't shift fast enough to make the stop. Robitaille's third goal of the playoffs, at 16:17, tied the game at 1.

Robitaille had some rebounding to do after a sub-par performance on Saturday landed him in coach Andy Murray's doghouse.

Murray benched Robitaille late in the Kings' 2-0 loss in Game 2 because he didn't think the winger was battling hard enough. Robitaille got the message, loud and clear; he was a vulture buzzing around Roy all night.

In the third minute of the third, when the Kings were on another power play, Robitaille lifted a shot from deep in the slot that Roy shrugged off with his right shoulder.

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Photo:

(color) Ziggy Palffy, left, and the Kings were caught off balance against Dan Hinote and Colorado most of the night.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer