KINGS MAKE LIKE THIEVES; WIN IN OT MODRY'S GOAL GIVES L.A. 1-0 SERIES LEAD KINGS 4, COLORADO 3.

Byline: Karen Crouse Staff Writer

DENVER - Because two players from each team had switched jerseys in midseason, redemption figured to be the keyword of Game One of the Western Conference semifinal between the Kings and Colorado.

It was, though in ways too baffling to believe.

Avalanche defenseman Rob Blake collecting a goal and an assist in his first game against his former team? That was predictable enough.

Kings forward Adam Deadmarsh making a heads-up play to set up his former team for Nelson Emerson's kill? That was foreseeable.

The weirdness started when the Kings atoned for going 21 minutes without a shot by taking a one-goal lead on Glen Murray's second score, with seven minutes left in the third period. It continued when the Avalanche compensated for not scoring on a two-man advantage by getting a power-play goal by Peter Forsberg to tie the game at 3 less than three minutes later.

Then it got really weird: Jaroslav Modry scored at 14:23 of overtime to give the Kings a stunning 4-3 victory over the mighty Avalanche - L.A.'s fifth consecutive playoff victory.

Blake, who was so big in L.A. his face graced the side of buses, expected to be nervous in his first game against the Kings. It certainly looked like he was battling more than the Kings in the first period. If he hadn't been on the ice for Murray's goal in the 10th minute, you wouldn't have known Blake had skated at all in the first period.

All it took was a single shift in the second period for Blake to illustrate why he is a perennial Norris Trophy contender. With the teams skating 4 on 4, Kings defenseman Mathieu Schneider made the mistake of dropping his head and Blake impassively dropped him along the side boards. A few blinks later, Blake blistered a shot from the right faceoff circle that whistled past Potvin.

Blake's goal gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead. At that point the momentum the Kings had built while winning four straight games against Detroit in the first round seemed but a memory.

Murray's rising shot from the top of the right face off circle at 9:20 roused the Avalanche like a wake-up call. It beat goaltender Patrick Roy on his short side but Colorado wouldn't be on the short end of the scorefor long.

With 4:20 left in the period, Chris Drury carried the puck into the slot, unencumbered by any Kings. Potvin had Drury in plain view but was helpless to stop the sniper's shot.

Anyone in the sellout crowd who expected the Kings to fold after Blake's goal hadn't paid attention to the Kings' Game 6 against Detroit on Monday. After surrendering a 1-0 lead in that contest, the Kings had come storming back behind its thundering first line of Jozef Stumpel, Deadmarsh and Ziggy Palffy.

Sure enough, Deadmarsh struck again in the 10th minute of the second. He knocked down Colorado defenseman Martin Skoula's clearing attempt and Emerson took the puck from there, slipping it between Roy's pads.

Emerson's shot, at 9:29, would be the last one the Kings would record in the period. Murray was the only other player to test Roy as the Kings were outshot 14-2 in the period.

Amazingly, the Avalanche got only one of those shots during a 1:14 stretch when Colorado enjoyed a two-man advantage courtesy of penalties by Emerson (slashing) and Jere Karalahti (holding).

With Ray Bourque and Blake manning the point and Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Drury lurking down low, the Avalanche power play looks like a powder keg on paper. The Kings, though, managed to defuse it, with Stumpel's clearing pass in the final seconds signaling to all that the clear and present danger had passed.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Kings' Scott Thomas, right, and Colorado's Dan Hinote tangle.

Hyoung Chang/Associated Press

(2) Colorado's Chris Drury, center, tries to get the puck past Kings goalie Felix Potvin.

John Leyba/Associated Press