FOR KINGS, TIE MISSES THE POINT DUCKS RALLY DENIES L.A. AT TIME WHEN EVERY GAME COUNTS KINGS 3, DUCKS 3.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

Adam Deadmarsh has played on a Stanley Cup champion. He knows a tie against a last-place team with two weeks left in the regular season is not the winning formula in the Kings' struggle to make the playoffs.

So while his new teammates repeatedly said they were happy to get a point from Saturday afternoon's 3-3 draw with the Mighty Ducks, Deadmarsh knew this was a game the Kings should have won.

``No question,'' Deadmarsh said. ``We have been playing well and we have to keep that going.''

Suddenly, however, the Kings have an embarrassing 7-0 loss to Edmonton and a tie with the Ducks to show for their past two games. The memory of the 9-1-2 run that moved them into eighth place in the West now is hazy. The thought of Saturday's game-tying goal by Oleg Tverdovsky with seven minutes to play in regulation is far more vivid.

Certainly, the Kings could explain away the game by saying Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere was brilliant, especially in overtime when he stopped a certain goal by Deadmarsh. And yes, the Ducks have been a respectable 9-7-2 since February.

It had to be considered a good sign to have Ziggy Palffy score two goals. During the Kings' successful stretch, Palffy went eight games without a goal. And Jozef Stumpel was back after missing seven games with a fractured rib in his back.

But Kings coach Andy Murray never has been very good at hiding his feelings.

``Right now every point is golden so it wouldn't be right for me to say that (it was) a point won or a point lost,'' Murray said. ``I couldn't really say right now.''

What Murray wants to say is he doesn't want to leave all the playoff drama to the end. The Kings have back-to-back games this week with San Jose, a team they swept last week but remains ahead of them in the standings.

There also is a pair of games with Vancouver and next Saturday's game against Deadmarsh's former team, the Colorado Avalanche, who won it all in 1996.

That, of course, would be Rob Blake's first visit to Staples Center since the Kings traded their captain Feb. 21. But Blake is nursing a sprained right knee and might not play.

Deadmarsh has just one goal since joining the Kings. But he also has been slowed by a deeply bruised left hand that has made it difficult to grip the stick. Murray said Saturday was Deadmarsh's best game with the club.

Turned out to be a door prize.

Against the Ducks, the Kings held leads of 1-0 and 3-2 but could not get it done.

The mood was festive in the sellout crowd of 18,118 when Jaroslav Modry scored a minute into the game on a pass from Eric Belanger. The Kings came in 26-7-8-1 when they score first.

But the Ducks started taking the body and took the lead in the second period on goals by Pascal Trepanier and German Titov.

Ducks defenseman Ruslan Salei, who missed 26 games with a concussion earlier this season, crunched Belanger into the boards late in the first period. Belanger played the first 20 seconds of the second period and did not return with an upper-body bruise. He will be re-examined today.

It wasn't until late in the second that the Kings took advantage of seven penalties called on the Ducks. Palffy's first goal came at 17:45 of the period, just two seconds after the Ducks killed off a five-on-three advantage.

Antti Jussi Niemi was still in the penalty box for holding when Stumpel slid the puck across the crease to a waiting Palffy.

With 6:38 gone in the third, Palffy spun after taking a pass from Mathieu Schneider and beat Giguere on a 15-foot slap shot.

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Photo: The Kings' Ziggy Palffy (33) scores the first of his two goals Saturday, beating Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer