GOOD STORR-Y NEEDED NOW.

Byline: MATT McHALE NHL 

Jamie Storr, we're ready for your close-up.

No rush. The Kings are a mess, Felix Potvin is out for two months with a bad knee, and management is saying it could start dumping players in two weeks if the season doesn't turn around.

For better or worse, all this is sitting in the crease waiting for Storr to make the save of his life. If you are a bettor, better actually looks pretty good.

With so many rotten things going on with the Kings, the timing is perfect for Storr to come up big. It's his job now. He bailed out the team a year ago in a backup role, and maybe he still has some of the magic that has been missing this season.

At just 27, he amazingly has been with the Kings nine years. When teenage buddy Jason Allison was playing junior hockey in Toronto, Storr was playing with the Kings.

Kevin Weekes, who helped get Carolina to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, once was Storr's backup.

There is no better time to prove he can be a No. 1 goaltender.

Potvin's knee sprain, while unfortunate, should help the Kings decide what the future holds in net. Injuries have crushed the team, but they also have become an excuse, masking the fact that neither goaltender has played well.

Potvin will be an unrestricted free agent and certainly will push to get back quickly. The team wanted to tie him up with a long-term contract last summer, but it didn't work out. Maybe that was a good thing. But unlike the situation with Allison, who will not be the same this year after coming back too soon from a torn knee ligament, the Kings need to stress patience - for Potvin's sake and the club's.

In his early years with the Kings, Storr always seemed content to share the job with Stephane Fiset. The two were close. They even were badly injured in the same game five years ago.

The Kings weren't very good in those days. The club now regrets pushing Storr too soon when he might have been better served learning his craft in the minor leagues.

Now, the Kings have made the playoffs the past three years and expectations are far different.

Storr's biggest problem after last year was there was nowhere to go but down.

He stepped in when Potvin was slumping and turned around a team that had an even worse win-loss record than it does now. Although he made just 12 starts, Storr went 8-2-2 with a 1.82 goals-against average. He had two shutouts, including one in New York that ended the Kings' 10-year winless streak at Madison Square Garden.

Just as important, he developed the kind of work ethic in practice that got teammates to respond. Suddenly, he was no longer considered the flaky kid who cracked jokes in the dressing room but never quite earned his teammates' respect.

All that changed, and where did it get him? Back on the bench for this season.

Potvin recovered to set a team record with 71 appearances. His goals-against average was 2.31, the best of his career.

Coach Andy Murray applauded Storr's accomplishments, but Potvin was his guy.

There was little Storr could do to change his situation. As a restricted free agent, he could have sat out, hoping to get a trade. But for someone who grew up in a family where money was tight, his $1.6 million salary is a dream.

He has never complained, never wished Potvin to trip on a crack in the ice.

But he was stuck.

Until now.

If he does what he is capable of doing, the Kings just could get back in the game. There is a good chance they still will trade Ziggy Palffy, Bryan Smolinski or even Potvin, who is making $3.3 million this year.

Or maybe if Storr is so good, he becomes the trade bait for the Kings, who desperately need to bolster their offense.

But remember two years ago when Potvin came in and took over after Rob Blake was traded? Anything is possible.

It's a stretch to think the Kings will go 23-7 in the final 30 games and get 94 points, the number needed to reach last year's postseason. In hockey, though, two good weeks is all it takes.

Players talk all the time about living in the moment. For Jamie Storr, that moment is now.

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By Matt McHale