KINGS MOVE TO 7TH WIN VAULTS L.A. PAST VANCOUVER KINGS 3, VANCOUVER 1.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

The Kings said goodbye to their fans Monday night with a confident air that they will be back for the playoffs.

In front of a cheering sellout crowd on Fan Appreciation Night at Staples Center, the Kings took a major step toward the postseason with a 3-1 victory over Vancouver that vaulted them over the Canucks into the seventh spot in the Western Conference.

They know better than to proclaim themselves in, especially with a game tonight in Phoenix. The Kings entered Monday night's game a point behind the Coyotes for the eighth and final spot in the conference.

But in the past few weeks the Kings have found their stride, riding goaltender Felix Potvin and leading scorer Ziggy Palffy. Potvin, named NHL player of the week earlier in the day, stopped 32 shots in his 22nd consecutive start. It was the Kings' third consecutive victory.

If anyone is hotter than Potvin, it might be Palffy, who scored his fifth goal in three games to give him 88 points for the season. That is the highest point total by a King since Wayne Gretzky scored 130 in 1993.

Other standouts included Luc Robitaille, who gave the Kings a 2-0 lead in the first period with his 37th goal of the season, tying Palffy for the team high.

And not to be overlooked was Kings top center Jozef Stumpel, who has emerged from a season of injury and inconsistency to play at his best down the stretch. Stumpel had two assists, including the 400th of his career. More important, he has seven points in his last four games.

As the teams began the third period, it looked like the Kings had a shot to move into sixth in the conference by the end of the night. No. 6 San Jose was trailing expansion Minnesota. If the score held up, the Kings and Sharks each would have had 88 points and 37 victories. The Kings held an 8-6 goal edge in the season series.

That's how close this has gotten. But San Jose rallied to beat Minnesota 4-2.

It hasn't been so easy for the Canucks, who are playing the rest of the regular season without leading scorer Markus Naslund and top center Andrew Cassels.

Knowing Vancouver was coming off a demoralizing 2-1 loss to the Mighty Ducks the night before, the Kings wanted to jump out early and wear down the Canucks even more. As they have done recently, the Kings kept shots away from Potvin, allowing just five in the first period.

The Kings kept the action in the Canucks end for most of the period, scoring at the 5:40 mark on a blast by defenseman Jaroslav Modry from the right faceoff circle. Moments earlier, Modry fed Palffy in front, but Canucks' goaltender Dan Cloutier made the stop.

This time, it was Palffy who found Modry, who has pleased the club by stepping up his all-around game since Rob Blake was traded to Colorado in February.

Later in the period, the Kings did not take a shot during a 53-second, five-on-three advantage. But less than a minute after Henrik Sedin returned to the ice, Robitaille parked in front of Cloutier and deflected a shot from the point from Mathieu Schneider at 13:17.

The Kings had done what they set out to do, bury Vancouver early. But the game was not over.

The Canucks picked up their game in the second period, taking 14 shots at Potvin, who faced just 19 in Saturday's 4-0 victory against Colorado.

At the 6:31 mark of the period, Canucks defenseman Ed Jovanovski fired from long range. Potvin made the stop, but the rebound bounced back to the slot. Kings defenseman Philippe Boucher tried to clear but was worked off the puck.

Donald Brashear found himself with a wide-open look at the net and beat Potvin between the pads to make it 2-1.

Potvin suddenly found himself in a struggle. Later in the period, Brendan Morrison moved in front of the Kings net, but Potvin closed off the angle and made the stop.

The Canucks momentum wasn't shaken until later in the period when Palffy took over. Adam Deadmarsh, whose offense has picked up the past three games, dug the puck out of the corner and fed Palffy in the high slot. Palffy wound up and fired a shot that sailed past Cloutier's right pad.

KINGS vs. PHOENIX

Time: 7:30 p.m., America West Arena.

TV/Radio: Fox Sports Net; KSPN-AM (1110).

Matchup: The Kings are 1-1-1 against the Coyotes this season. The loss came in Phoenix 3-1 on Oct. 28. The Coyotes are coming off a 3-1 victory over San Jose, which kept them in eighth place. But they haven't played since and dropped to ninth after Monday's Kings victory. Jeremy Roenick leads the Coyotes with 30 goals and 76 points. Roenick, an unrestricted free agent July 1, had been negotiating on a new contract, but the club recently cut off talk until the end of the season. Just to show how well Phoenix's Sean Burke has played this year: The Kings' Felix Potvin, who had three shutouts last week, has a .916 save percentage since the Feb. 16 trade; Burke's is .922.

- Matt McHale

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KINGS vs. PHOENIX (see text)