KINGS DON'T WANT AVS EARLY IN PLAYOFFS.

Byline: Kevin McHale NHL 

There is an important game for the Kings tonight and it is not the one against Vancouver at the Staples Center.

The Colorado Avalanche, which a month ago was running away with the Northwest Division, is slumping and is four points behind Edmonton heading into their game at Denver's Pepsi Center.

The feeling around the Kings is that with just seven of their last 20 games on the road, they will make the playoffs. They are sixth among the eight postseason hopefuls in the Western Conference and probably would open the first round against the Northwest champ.

Even though the Avalanche dropped three of four to them this season and the Oilers beat them up last week in Edmonton, the Kings don't want a first-round matchup against Colorado. The Avs have most of the stars from their Stanley Cup championship just four years ago.

The three division winners in each conference, regardless of record, are the first three seeds in the playoffs. So even though Detroit is 12 points ahead of Edmonton overall, the Red Wings are second to St. Louis in the Central Division and thus a lower seed.

Although the Kings are just two points behind Phoenix (72-70), they might not want to finish anywhere but sixth if they want to advance past the first round. If the season ended today, the Coyotes would face Detroit in the opener.

They certainly don't want to drop to seventh and face defending Cup champion Dallas, which leads the Pacific Division. Fall to eighth and the Kings would face St. Louis. A lot has happened since the Kings beat the Blues at St. Louis in the second game of the season. The Blues have gone 19-6-4 at home.

Sunday night, Colorado, which is winless in its last four games, tied Dallas 1-1. That kept the Avs three points ahead of Calgary and four points in front of the Ducks, who beat Edmonton 3-2.

The tie did not erase the offensive drought for Colorado, which managed only one shot on goal in the third period of Friday night's 4-2 loss at St. Louis. Greg De Vries, who was benched against the Blues, got the Avs' only goal. Five of their last six have been scored by defensemen.

That should improve with the return of Adam Deadmarsh to the first line alongside Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg. Deadmarsh was back after missing five games with a rib injury.

Sakic has one goal in the past 11 games, and Forsberg has scored twice in seven games, both last week in New Jersey before the Avs blew a two-goal lead in the third period.

Patrick Roy, in net against Dallas, is back after missing three of four games with a groin injury. But last Tuesday, he gave up two third-period goals in a 4-2 loss to expansion Atlanta, which had dropped 12 straight.

``It was not a good loss, that's for sure,'' said Roy, who has 433 NHL victories and needs one to tie Jacques Plante for second place on the all- time list.

Colorado once had an eight-point advantage in the Northwest Division. After a tough stretch against St. Louis, Dallas and Edmonton, the Avs face New Jersey on Thursday at home. The Devils have the best record in the East even though Sunday's 3-0 victory over Montreal ended a winless streak at five games.

``I mean, you can talk as much as you want in the locker room that everybody's prepared, everybody's ready,'' said forward Dave Reid. ``Then we get out there and we don't do it. It's very frustrating. Everybody says, `Well, we have to learn from this, we have to learn from this.' But school's over. Hey, let's get going.''

--Star power: Dallas strutted more of its Stanley Cup stuff in last Wednesday's 5-2 romp over Detroit. The Stars trailed 2-1 after two periods.

The Stars, 1-17-1 including playoffs in the late '90s at Joe Louis Arena, ran their current unbeaten streak in Detroit to 4-0-1, including four straight victories.

``In the playoffs two years ago, we were disappointed we weren't able to make a better account of ourselves,'' Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said, remembering how his team dropped three games in Detroit during the conference finals. ``We were determined to be a better team in this building. I think we played up until last year like we didn't belong. I felt that we didn't think in our minds that we were good enough.''

--Who's wondering now? Expect the Red Wings to trade for a defenseman before the March 14 deadline.

Unlike last year, when Detroit made drastic moves at the deadline and got nowhere, there are no blockbusters planned. But general manager Ken Holland will be looking.

Two of the better defensemen, Tampa Bay's Petr Svoboda and Montreal's Vladimir Malakhov, will be free agents at the end of the season. Others, like Nashville's Bob Boughner, New Jersey's Lyle Odelein and Vancouver's Murray Baron, are considered a little slow for the Detroit system.

The Red Wings are just 13-11-2 since Jan. 1 and have allowed 52 goals in those 11 losses. Twice in a recent three-game span, they allowed four goals apiece in the third period during loss to Chicago and Dallas.

``A lot of things can happen over the last 20 games of the season,'' captain Steve Yzerman said.

BLUE LINES

AFTERMATH

It has been a week since Marty McSorley took his stick to the head of Vancouver's Donald Brashear. But the fallout will be enormous for a long time. There is talk of criminal prosecution. And there definitely will be civil suits. In criminal law, there is room for reasonable doubt. In civil law, it's a balance of probability. Given the violence of hockey, it's tough to make charges stick, although this might be the exception. It's not as difficult in a civil suit.

There are two precedents in the NHL involving Dave Forbes and Henry Boucha in 1975 and Wilf Paiment and Dennis Polonich in 1978. In the first case, Forbes butt-ended Boucha in the face and fractured his cheekbone. Charges were filed, but the trial ended in a hung jury. Boucha, however, sued Forbes for $3.5 million and eventually settled out of court. In the second case, no charges were filed after Paiment high-sticked the Detroit forward, but Polonich sued successfully for $850,000.WORTH THE WAIT Calgary's Valeri Bure isn't scoring as much these days, but his place has been taken by right winger Jarome Iginla, who recently scored in 11 consecutive games, including three goals in two games against the Kings. The streak left him only five games shy of Gary Suter's team record of 16 games in a row with at least one point. The Flames are pleased since it is the first time he has shown the promise that convinced them to trade captain Joe Nieuwendyk to Dallas for his playing rights in December of 1995.

WE DON'T HAVE THAT PROBLEM

The top ticket at Joe Louis Arena if the Red Wings reach the Stanley Cup Finals is $400, up from $250 a year ago, for the first seven rows of the lower bowl. With their payroll close to $50 million and climbing, the Red Wings thought they needed to bump up prices. Maybe the Kings aren't in that situation, but fans in Staples Center beware. Talk in Detroit is the club knew those seats - owned by corporations - could easily be afforded.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: No caption (Marty McSorely)

Box: Blue lines (see text)