AS USUAL, UNEXPECTED COMES EARLY.

Byline: MATT MCHALE

It happens every fall. Expect the unexpected.

A contending team plays poorly, its coach gets fired. A nobody stands on its head and makes the NHL take notice.

Last year, the Boston Bruins canned head coach Pat Burns before the first snowfall. This year, it was Pittsburgh's Ivan Hlinka, who was fired Monday after the Penguins began 0-4.

The St. Louis Blues allowed four goals in the third period last Thursday and the city, already mourning the playoff loss by its baseball Cardinals, is moaning about another season without a goaltender.

Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens are unbeaten in five games. So is the Minnesota Wild. Holy Rocket Richard!: The New Jersey Devils are 0-3.

The Kings? After getting within a game of the Western Conference finals, they have the worst record in the West (1-3-1) heading into tonight's game against the Washington Capitals at Staples Center.

When will life get back to normal? That's what makes the regular season worth watching.

Former Kings favorite son Luc Robitaille has two goals with Detroit after not recording a point during the exhibition schedule and the first four games of the regular season.

After the Blues' meltdown with the Kings, they came back and beat Toronto 5-1. The Maple Leafs, expected to contend for the Stanley Cup in the East, are in last place.

``At this point in the season, you can't always see how a team is doing through wins or losses,'' Kings center Ian Laperriere said. ``Sure we wanted to pick up where we left off last year. But it's not like teams are kicking our butts.''

The Kings' three losses were all by one goal. Many think their worst 60-minute effort of the season came against St. Louis - their only win.

Coach Andy Murray is concerned with the production of his first line - Jozef Stumpel, Ziggy Palffy and Adam Deadmarsh - which has a combined four points.

Deadmarsh missed all of training camp with groin and wrist injuries and was held out of Monday's practice after taking a shot to the foot in Saturday's 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay. He is expected to play tonight.

The group is flat, no question. Although letting Robitaille leave as a free agent so easily last summer will be debated all season, a bigger question should be how the team could let Stumpel return as the No. 1 center for the fourth consecutive year.

Good player but not in that critical role. And without Deadmarsh's grit every night, the problem becomes magnified.

But every team has problems. The Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche doesn't know when or if Peter Forsberg is going to be back this season. Some say he will play for Sweden in the Winter Olympics. Others, including teammate and league MVP Joe Sakic, are certain the mental anguish of the ruptured spleen suffered during the Kings playoff series will take at least a season to repair.

The Avs won despite missing Forsberg for the final two rounds of the postseason. An entire season is far different.

Meanwhile, the Devils, probably the league's most consistent team the past six years, look awful. They blew a two-goal lead to Montreal on Sunday and are off to their worst start since moving to New Jersey 20 years ago. The defense is old, the underpaid youngsters don't appear hungry. Looks like coach Larry Robinson has back his old Kings team.

But does anyone think the Avs and Devils won't be around in April? Murray says their pedigree allows those teams some wiggle room. After two consecutive playoff appearances, the Kings need to keep the momentum going.

In Pittsburgh, Hlinka was brought in from the Czech Republic to tame Jagr's many moods. The two never got along. Several times Jagr asked to be traded. Only when owner Mario Lemieux returned to the ice were the Penguins able to keep a lid on their problems.

Jagr was traded to Washington because Pittsburgh couldn't afford his $10-million-a-year salary and a large group of restricted free agents, led by Alexei Kovalev, who all wanted raises. Kovalev had 44 goals last season. He has none this year.

The Penguins reached the Eastern Conference finals, but Hlinka's inability to get along with his best player put him on notice after last year. It turned out to be short, even in a long season.

BLUE LINES

By Matt McHale

GRIPING BUT NOT SCORING

The Philadelphia Flyers were 1-1-2 in their first four games with just 11 goals. Nine of them came in the third period, giving the Flyers the lead for just 12 minutes in those games. Coach Bill Barber has been working the team hard to pull out of the scoring problems, but it seems the controversy hasn't ended just because Eric Lindros left town. Newcomer Jeremy Roenick is saying privately he doesn't want to play with John LeClair. Roenick, who leads the team with seven points, likes playing with youngsters Simon Gagne and Justin Williams instead.

WITH A BREAK IN THE ACTION

Nashville appeared to have a certain victory over Edmonton on Sunday when Tom Fitzgerald's slap shot busted the glass behind the Oilers net late in the second period. But the time it took to install new glass shattered their momentum. Last year, the Predators, who have a good chance to make their first playoffs, were 27-4-4-1 when they scored three or more goals. But Edmonton's Mike Grier, Mike Comrie and Jochen Hecht scored unanswered goals for the Oilers, who are 4-1-0

BEST OF FRIENDS

New Islanders captain Michael Peca was crunched in a hit last Wednesday from an unlikely source: Pittsburgh's Mike Wilson. The two are close friends and were in each other's wedding parties. The 6-foot-6 Wilson originally was in Vancouver's system with Peca and the two were part of the package that brought Alexander Mogilny from the Sabres to the Canucks in 1995.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) no caption (Islanders captain Michael Peca)

Associated Press

Box: BLUE LINES (see text)