These Roles Turn Kings Into Stars : NHL playoffs: Away from the media spotlight, lesser-known players perform specialized tasks.

In the Kings’ dressing room, the media mob often tramples through their locker stalls to get to Wayne Gretzky. In hotel lobbies, they may get swept aside by autograph-seekers pursuing Kelly Hrudey. At charity affairs, the camera zooms past them to focus on Luc Robitaille.

They are the spear carriers of the Kings’ army, the often-forgotten skaters who serve as role players and do the dirty work.

You won’t often find them in the headlines, but you will find them in the corners, digging out the puck, or against the boards, checking the opposing club’s big guns, or using their speed to beat enemy skaters to the puck.

Teams such as the Vancouver Canucks know them all too well, people such as Steve Kasper, Brad Jones and Mike Donnelly. They have played a sizable role in giving the Kings a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven, opening-round playoff series against the Canucks heading into Game 6 tonight at 7 in Vancouver.

“A large part of the success of our team,” King Coach Tom Webster said, “is players accepting their roles, a Mike Donnelly, a John McIntyre, a Jay Miller, a Brad Jones and a Rod Buskas.

“We made up our mind in training camp to play as many people as possible to see how much depth we had. What we have has enabled us to play with four lines.”

And has given Webster a console full of buttons to push in different circumstances.

Example: When Webster ran into Vancouver’s high-scoring line of Geoff Courtnall, Cliff Ronning and Trevor Linden at the start of this series, he had two routes to go. He could counter with his scoring line of Gretzky, Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato, or his checking line of Kasper, Donnelly, Bob Kudelski and Jones on occasion.

Webster went both ways.

“We continue to rotate our lines,” he said. “With our checking line, we try to shut them down. With Gretzky’s line, we can explode (offensively), so we try to take advantage of that.”

To maintain such versatility requires sacrifice.

“Steve Kasper would love to score more goals,” Webster said. “I continuously encourage him to stay in his role.”

Example: In the first few games of this series, Webster found his team getting beaten to the puck and outskated.

Enter Jones, whose forte is the speed game. Webster inserted him in the lineup and presented yet another look to the opposition.

“When Brad is in there,” Kasper said, “his speed opens things up. Instead of meeting you at the blue line, the defensemen have to back off. It adds another dimension to our game.”

That was obvious in Game 5 Friday night, when Jones scored his first playoff goal.

And Donnelly, using his speed, scored his third of the series, a total exceeded only by Gretzky and Robitaille. Larry Robinson threw out a pass along the boards with Donnelly and the Canucks’ Gerald Diduck in hot pursuit. Donnelly’s speed allowed him to get to the puck first and his scoring ability enabled him to convert the pass into a goal.

But such moments of glory are often few for the role player. Much of the time is spent skating in practice and waiting, and working out and waiting, sitting on the bench and waiting.

“You have to work out and stay ready,” Jones said. “When I’m not playing, I’ll try to picture myself out there skating to keep myself in the game.”

But the periods of inactivity must surely be accompanied by periods of depression.

“Sure,” he said, “it’s natural to be down when you find out you’re not going to be playing. But if you go around sulking and dragging your lip, you’re not going to help yourself or the team.”

Acutely sensitive to the emotional needs of the role player, Webster is always ready to give a pat on the back.

While Gretzky disappears amid an army of microphones and cameras after a big night, Webster will quietly search out a role player who might have made a key check or assist and assure him his accomplishment was noted.

Gretzky, too, will often try to downplay his own deeds to boost the spirits of a role player.

They both know that these Kings are only as strong as their foot soldiers.

King Notes

With Rod Buskas sidelined for the season because of a broken thumb, the Kings recalled Dennis Smith from their Phoenix Roadrunner farm team. . . . With Buskas’ muscle missing, Webster is expected to return Jay Miller to the lineup in place of Brad Jones.