Kings Hit an Early Bump in Road to the Cup, 6-5 : NHL playoffs: Canucks score three times in third period, erasing a 5-3 lead in series opener. Courtnall has three goals and sets up the winner.

So much for the advantage of winning the division.

So much for avoiding Calgary and Edmonton.

So much for playing on home ice.

So much for facing the worst team in the playoffs.

The Kings wanted Vancouver to open the playoffs, but they got more than they bargained for as the Canucks scored a stunning upset Thursday night, beating the Kings, 6-5, in the opener of the best-of-seven series.

Game 2 will be Saturday night at the Forum.

Down by two heading into the final period, Vancouver pulled out the victory with three goals, the second and third of Geoff Courtnall’s hat trick, followed by Cliff Ronning’s winner with 2:31 to play.

The Canucks finished 37 points behind the Kings in the Smythe Division, but you wouldn’t have known it from the way they played Thursday.

“I’m happy right now, but that’s a great team down there,” Canuck Coach Pat Quinn said of the Kings. “We have to find more ways to compete with them.”

The ways they found Thursday weren’t so bad.

Courtnall tied the game at 9:30 of the final period, scoring from the middle of the left circle.

On the deciding goal, Ronning took a pass from Courtnall, went around Tim Watters and then fired from the slot, about 30 feet out.

Defenseman Marty McSorley was in Ronning’s path, but McSorley appeared to screen King goalie Kelly Hrudey, allowing the puck to sail over Hrudey’s left shoulder.

“No one came to me,” Ronning said, “so I put it upstairs.”

Hrudey wouldn’t offer any alibis.

“There’s no excuses,” he said. “I don’t care if a goalie sees it or he doesn’t. He has got to save it.”

This is only the second time since Dec. 27 the Kings have given up six goals.

“I’m not shocked,” Larry Robinson said. “I’m maybe shocked about the way that we played. We haven’t played like this all year. Now, all of a sudden, we get into the playoffs and everybody wants to get into a scoring race.

“We forgot about what got us here--playing good defense. Until we get back to playing the way we’re capable of playing, we’re going to end up with results like this.”

At the end, the Kings’ offense wasn’t anything to boast about either.

Vancouver goalie Troy Gamble, in his first playoff game, blocked 24 of 29 King shots. The Kings had five goals--but only two shots on goal in the final period.

It was a fine postseason debut for Gamble, who had to wonder if he would get this far. He had four concussions this season and had been back for only one game before Thursday, a season-ending, 3-2 overtime victory over the Winnipeg Jets that clinched the playoff berth.

Gamble was so nervous, he couldn’t sleep. He came to the Forum Thursday morning to just hang around.

“I was saying all week that I was just going to prepare like it was another game,” Gamble said, “but my mind wouldn’t let me.”

Any thought that the Canucks wouldn’t be competitive ended about two minutes into the game. That’s how long it took Vancouver to take the lead.

Goals by Dave Capuano and Igor Larionov gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead.

The Kings appeared stunned, but not for long.

Goals by Tomas Sandstrom and Bob Kudelski tied the game before the first period had ended.

But with 20 seconds remaining in the period, Courtnall scored his first goal to put Vancouver back in front, 3-2.

Since coming to the Canucks in a March trade with the St. Louis Blues, Courtnall and Ronning have been teamed on a line with Trevor Linden, a combination that has been outstanding. They had a total of 35 points heading into Thursday. Courtnall scored the game-winner in overtime when Vancouver beat the Kings in their last regular-season meeting.

And that line had nine points Thursday night.

In the second period, the Kings appeared to take command on goals by Wayne Gretzky, Steve Kasper and Luc Robitaille.

Vancouver cut the margin to 5-4 at the 5:00 mark of the final period on Courtnall’s second goal.

“With all the expectations,” Hrudey said when it was over, “maybe we put too much pressure on ourselves that we were going to sweep through the playoffs without a loss.”

At least that’s one thing they no longer have to worry about.

King Notes

A dispute between King General Manager Rogie Vachon and defenseman Tom Laidlaw has resulted in the removal of Laidlaw from King radio broadcasts. At issue is the money remaining on the contract of Laidlaw, who hasn’t played for the Kings in 13 months because of a chronic back condition. Laidlaw has one year plus an option year remaining at $310,000 per season. When it became apparent his back problems would not allow him to return, Laidlaw had hoped to stay on as the radio color man, working with play-by-play announcer Nick Nickson. Instead, when negotiations reached an impasse, the Kings hired Brian Engblom, a former defenseman, to replace Laidlaw.

Dept. of Wishful Thinking: A rumor spread through Edmonton Tuesday and Wednesday that Wayne Gretzky had injured his knee and would miss at least the first two games of the playoffs. It turns out the story originated from Phoenix, where a caller to an Edmonton radio station claimed to have seen Gretzky injured in Lake Arrowhead, where the team spent the last couple of days preparing for the playoffs. . . . The Kings were so impressed with Lake Arrowhead, they are thinking of using the site for their preseason camp.

* TURNABOUT: The Kings will be without Coach Tom Webster for the first two games of the playoffs. In 1982, Vancouver defeated the Kings and went to the Stanley Cup finals after losing its coach. C6