BLAKE PENALIZES KINGS' WHINING.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Young Kings cried and cursed, did everything but stamp their feet and threaten to hold their breath until referee Don Koharski changed his mind.

It was up to Rob Blake to spank them, and, in his own measured way, the Kings' 28-year-old elder statesman did that.

``You can't blame the ref,'' he said, the first to speak the truth in the Kings dressing room.

This was late Monday night.

This was after a 3-0 lead in Los Angeles' biggest hockey game in five years got away as the St. Louis Blues scored four power-play goals while Sean O'Donnell served a five-minute major penalty for beating up Geoff Courtnall in defense of Kings goalie Jamie Storr.

This was after the Blues won 4-3 at the Forum to pull within one victory of a playoff series sweep, and all the Kings had left was anger.

All the Kings except Blake, who showed why he's the team captain, who showed that you can lead by example off the ice as well as on it.

``The five-minute penalty is one thing, but you can't give up four goals on one penalty kill,'' he said, a towel around his waist, an ice bag on his right elbow.

O'Donnell, Ian Laperriere and coach Larry Robinson said the game was stolen from the Kings by the ref.

Somebody needed to tell them: You're sounding like the Portland Trail Blazers.

``It wasn't stolen at all,'' Blake said of the game. ``We had a couple of 5-on-3s (in the second and third periods). We didn't capitalize on that.

``Mentally the team broke down and it cost us the game.''

After a disaster like this, you groped for a meaningful comparison. Maybe this was the evil twin of the Miracle on Manchester, the Kings' five-goal comeback against the Edmonton Oilers in a 1982 playoff game.

Remember this as the Penalty on Prairie.

Blake had a better comparison.

One of two current Kings who were in the '93 Stanley Cup finals, he alluded to the controversial penalty that turned around that series with the Montreal Canadiens.

Leading 2-1 and less than two minutes from a 2-0 lead in the series, the Kings were suddenly short-handed after Montreal caught Marty McSorley with an illegally curved stick blade. Montreal tied the game on the power play and won in overtime. The Kings haven't won a playoff game since.

``People said, `We shouldn't have got the illegal-stick penalty,' '' Blake said, adding the part people forget: ``We should have killed the penalty.''

Monday, Storr and the Kings fought off three Blues power plays in the first 10 minutes of the first period and two more in the first eight minutes of the second. But they fell apart after Courtnall rammed Storr into a goalpost and O'Donnell was assessed the harsh penalty for retaliating.

O'Donnell did the right thing, according to the hockey players' code. Koharski came down too hard on the O'Donnell, the major penalty giving the Blues five minutes to wipe out 50 minutes of Kings work, and he was too easy on Courtnall, giving him two minutes for what looked like a willful act.

But none of that excuses the Kings' collapse.

``In the playoffs,'' Blake said, ``you can't get caught up in those things.''

Now the Kings' season is effectively over even as they suit up for tonight's game at the Forum. Three goals down is one thing. Three games down in a best-of-seven - against a stronger, more experienced team like the Blues - is insurmountable.

It appears Blake won't get his perfect ending after all.

He's getting married June 27 in Marina del Rey to Brandy Fleming, an El Camino College student from Manhattan Beach. Two days before that, he expects to attend the NHL's awards show in Toronto, possibly accepting the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman. Sometime early in the offseason, he hopes to sign a new Kings contract.

He hoped he would also lead the underdog Kings to the Stanley Cup in June, and said recently, ``It could be a perfect month.'' At least he'll have some nice consolation prizes.

Of all the Kings, none deserved the good things that happened this season more than Blake, who led NHL defensemen with 23 goals and was named ``best defenseman'' of the Olympic Games while playing for Canada.

He had signed a four-year, $10 million contract before the 1994-95 season and played in less than half the Kings' games since then because of injuries. Refreshingly, he thought he let team management down.

``I still believe in loyalty and I want to spend my career in Los Angeles, but I have to play well for this team in order to do that,'' he said recently.

Blake credits heavier workouts during the season for his health - he played in 81 of the Kings' 82 regular-season games - but declines credit for the team's turnaround.

``Maybe more for my leadership role,'' he said. ``I like to lead by example on the ice. If I'm doing well on the ice, other players are going to learn from that and follow.''

Hope they're watching him off the ice, too.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO ``The five minute penalty is one thing, but you can't give up four goals on one penalty kill.''

-- Rob Blake, on Monday's loss