TILL THE FAT LADY KINGS FACING ELIMINATION, L.A. NEEDS TOP LINE.

Byline: Karen Crouse Staff Writer

DENVER - The fan who stood up Wednesday night after the Kings dropped their third consecutive game to Colorado and screamed ``Go Lakers!'' forfeited any chance he had of getting a seat on the Kings charter flight to Colorado for Game 5 tonight.

After the Kings' 3-0 loss to the Avalanche in Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal, Kings coach Andy Murray told his players that anybody who believed the best-of-seven series was over need not bother boarding the plane.

Lord Stanley knows the Kings are carrying enough extra baggage, being down 3-1 in the series, without having to handle 200 pounds or more of dead weight.

Every player was present and accounted for at LAX's Imperial Terminal Thursday afternoon, which means, presumably, that everybody will show up for this do-or-done game at Pepsi Center.

That's good because the Kings can't afford to have a single player take off a single shift if they are to prolong their season. In particular, they must get a more dynamic effort from their top line of Ziggy Palffy, Jozef Stumpel and Adam Deadmarsh.

Deadmarsh was credited with seven hits Wednesday, giving him 20 for the series. He is playing hard; that much is obvious. What is less apparent is that he also is playing hurt.

The ex-Avalanche player has a fractured bone in his right shooting hand, which hasn't cut into his ice time but has curbed his effectiveness in front of the net.

Palffy must pick up the slack on offense, same as Milan Hejduk has for Colorado in the absence of injured center Joe Sakic. He has to fight through bad breaks and good checks.

``If you have a bad break, sometimes this team gets down,'' Palffy acknowledged. ``We just have to be patient and play our game.''

It has to start with Palffy's line.

``The French Connection'' line of Luc Robitaille, Eric Belanger and Ian Laperriere has made barely a peep against Colorado. The trio needs to rent space in the slot, or better yet, claim squatters' rights.

If it requires working a little harder to get in position, then so be it. The Kings have no reason to hold anything in reserve.

The Kings have to find a way to step up their play in the second period, that testy 20 minutes after the initial excitement of the game wears off and before desperation sets in.

In the first four games, the Avalanche has outscored the Kings 6-1 in the middle 20 minutes. Wednesday was the worst; Colorado scored all its goals in the second.

``If that's rock bottom,'' Kings forward Bryan Smolinski said, searching for the silver lining, ``we have no where to go but up.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) Adam Deadmarsh and the rest of the top line will be needed tonight.

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

Box: AT A GLANCE: WESTERN SEMIFINALS