Back Has Gretzky, Kings on Thin Ice : NHL playoffs: The Great One won’t know until just before Game 3 tonight at Forum if he can face Flames.

Today is Game 3 of the playoffs for the Kings.

And Day 18 of the Wayne Gretzky Crisis.

The big question is, which will end first?

Once again, anticipation has turned into anxiety, recovery into reassessment.

The latest word on Gretzky’s ailing back: No word.

The decision on his long-awaited return to the ice, expected Saturday, has been delayed again until 5 p.m. today.

Gretzky will drive to the Forum for tonight’s third game between the Kings and Calgary Flames in their best-of- seven, first-round playoff series, which is tied, 1-1.

After yet another consultation with team physician Steve Lombardo, it will be decided whether Gretzky will:

a) Be a spectator.

b) Be a specialty performer, appearing only on the power-play unit.

c) Return all the way and take his full shift on the ice.

Don’t bet on the last.

Certainly not off Gretzky’s comments at the team’s Culver City practice rink Saturday after the greatest scorer in NHL history practiced with his teammates for the first time since suffering a hyperextension of the back March 22.

Friday, Gretzky went on the ice for the first time since the injury, skating for about 20 minutes while the Kings were in Calgary.

Saturday, Gretzky lasted about the same amount of time, skating cautiously, shooting tentatively.

Tentative would also best describe his outlook afterward.

“I really don’t know when I’ll play,” he said. “I’ve gotten up some days and not felt bad. And some days, I’ve felt like I’m done for a couple of weeks.

“What I really need is time. We’re doing the best we can and moving as fast as we can, but we may not have the time. I hope the hours go by slowly and that I heal quickly.”

That hasn’t happened.

It has been a deceptive injury from the start. Gretzky was hit from behind by the New York Islanders’ Alan Kerr. The blow shoved Gretzky into Ken Baumgartner, creating a whiplash effect.

King Coach Tom Webster didn’t see the hit from his spot on the bench. No one except Gretzky realized the severity of it at first.

He thought he had a broken back. But, although he was hit in the first minute of the game, Gretzky finished the period, hoping he could skate through it.

When he couldn’t, he asked out after the period.

Gretzky began to experience back spasms. Days turned into weeks, the regular season into the playoffs and still no Gretzky.

Optimism began to run high for a return today after he missed the first two playoff games of his 11-year career. The spasms were gone and he was skating again.

But other problems remain.

“I have no strength in my back,” he explained, “no power to push off, to twist. I have no flexibility.

“If I play and I am more of a hinderance, that would be no help.”

There’s another dire possibility as well.

“If I take one hit,” he said, “I could be done for a couple of weeks. That doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

What does make more sense, perhaps bringing Gretzky back too soon and risking further injury, or trying to play the defending Stanley Cup champions without him?

Decided underdogs after finishing fourth behind Calgary in the Smythe Division, the Kings proved they are more than a one-man team by winning Game 1 in the Olympic Saddledome.

“It would be great to get a player like him back,” defenseman Larry Robinson said, “but, at the same time, it can be detrimental if they’re not 100%. Calgary is too good to have somebody out there who can’t go full out. But with a talent like that, it’s pretty tough to leave him on the side.”

Although he has mentioned using Gretzky only on the power play in his first game back, Webster wasn’t talking that Saturday.

“No way is he going to play unless he can make a contribution,” Webster said. “If he dresses, we want to make sure he plays. And not in just one specific role.”

That’s fine with Gretzky.

“If I come back to play,” he said, “I want to play. It’s in my blood. But, it’s up to him (Webster).”

It’s obvious in Gretzky’s face that the pain in his back is matched by pain in his heart.

“This is the time to play,” he said. “This is what it’s about. I’ve lifted the (Stanley) Cup four times and it’s the greatest feeling in the world.”

King Notes

Faceoff tonight is at 7:30. Game 4 will be at the Forum on Tuesday, as will Game 6, if necessary, on Saturday. . . . While Wayne Gretzky’s prognosis is guarded, the outlook is clearer for defenseman Tom Laidlaw, also out with a back injury. Laidlaw skated Saturday for the third straight day and hopes to play in Game 4.