KINGS OF THE PACIFIC L.A. TAKES 1ST THIS LATE FOR FIRST TIME IN OVER DECADE KINGS 3, SAN JOSE 0.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

For all those empty nights spent at the Forum, for all those games watching Marty McSorley and Pavel Rosa bring more heartache than sunshine, Saturday was for you.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Kings moved into first place this late in a season with a dominant 3-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks in front of delirious sellout crowd of 18,237 at Staples Center.

Although the Kings reached the second round of the playoffs last year, this game truly was proof of the organization's growth.

Just four months ago, the team was in last place in the Pacific Division, frustrated by its inability to shake a postseason hangover. Saturday, the Kings won their sixth consecutive game and unseated the Sharks from the top spot for the first time since Halloween.

``When you think that far back in December when we were six games under .500 and going nowhere, this is terrific,'' Jason Allison said. ``To watch it all come together has been great.''

The Kings (36-22-9-4) won with two power-play goals by Ziggy Palffy, and Felix Potvin stopped 17 shots to record his 23rd career shutout. But as with the past few months - during which the Kings have lost just 10 of their past 43 games - they did it with the little things.

Their league-leading penalty-killing unit not only held the Sharks scoreless in six attempts with the man advantage, it limited San Jose to just one shot.

``To me, that is as important as anything,'' said Palffy, who has a team-high 27 goals. ``It shows how hard we're working. No one is working harder right now.''

Technically, the Kings move ahead of San Jose even though both teams have 85 points and they have one less victory than the Sharks (37-36). The NHL's in-season tiebreaker is based on games played, and the Kings have played one fewer (72-71) than San Jose.

With that out of the way, it was difficult for the Kings to hide their delight. It didn't matter that San Jose was playing without captain and leading scorer Owen Nolan and wingers Marco Sturm, Niklas Sundstrom and Matt Bradley. Stephane Matteau, injured in last Monday's game with the Kings, is out indefinitely.

The Kings took advantage. At 18:11 of the first period with Adam Graves off for slashing, Palffy's first shot was stopped by Sharks' goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. But Palffy got the puck back and scored.

He scored his second goal at 8:57 of the second period off a rebound by Adam Deadmarsh. Allison and Jaroslav Modry assisted on both goals. Palffy now has 13 goals in his past 16 games.

Rookie Jaroslav Bednar scored the Kings' final goal at 14:41 of the second on a pretty backhand shot over Nabokov. Mikka Kiprusoff took over in goal for the third period.

The Kings now have beaten the Sharks in all four meetings this season. Last year, they won the last three, including two 1-0 shutouts by Potvin.

It is that consistency that has the Kings on the brink of their third consecutive playoff appearance. They never have posted three 90-point seasons in a row. Their only division title was in 1991 with Wayne Gretzky. That year, they lost in the second round. They went to the Stanley Cup Finals two years later but had many lean years until now.

``L.A. has proven for an extended period that they are a stronger team than us,'' Sharks coach Darryl Sutter said. ``The thing that impresses me most about L.A. is how good their defense is, not just the team concept of it but their six defensemen; I think it was evident again today how much stronger they were than our defenseman.''

Kings coach Andy Murray doesn't want to take any bows yet, preferring to remain humble until the team qualifies for the playoffs. But he likes the looks in his players' eyes.

He understood when they peered up at the out-of-town scoreboard and noticed Detroit had beaten Colorado. The Kings trail the Avalanche by just three points for the second spot in the West.

``Of course we see what is going on,'' Allison said. ``We wouldn't be human if we didn't. But we also know we have a game (today) in Phoenix. We have our heads on right.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

(color) The Kings' Mattias Norstrom hooks San Jose's Mike Craig during the victory Saturday that moved L.A. into first place in the Pacific Division.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

Box:

(1) STANDINGS

(2) RAPID RISE