ANALYSIS : This Ending Getting Old for Kings

The Kings promised they were going to play better team defense this season.

And they did.

They dreamed of winning their first divisional title.

And they did.

They hoped to avoid facing the Calgary Flames or the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs.

And they did.

They vowed to do better in postseason play than they had in the immediate past.

And they did.

Well, sort of.

All those goals and all those accomplishments, a team-record 46 victories, and all the Kings have to show for it is two victories and yet another frustrating elimination in the second round, this time in six games.

That’s better than being swept out of the second round, as the Kings had done in the two previous seasons. But not much better.

So what are we to make of this team and this season?

Was it another agonizing step upward on the eventual road to the elusive Stanley Cup? Or was it the zenith for a club destined to advance no further than the second round in the foreseeable future?

The Kings have yet to make it out of the second round in seven tries, their promise never quite fulfilled, their potential never quite realized.

But the goals achieved in this season need not be minimized.

It may not seem all that impressive so soon after the near miss against the Oilers, but the Kings have made major strides from where they were a year ago:

--A club that seemed to have little concept of team defense in 1989-90 allowed 83 fewer regular-season goals.

--The team added depth with backup goalie Daniel Berthiaume, speed with Brad Jones and Mike Donnelly, and reliability with the first line of Wayne Gretzky, Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato becoming a consistent, dominating force.

So what happened?

How did it all fizzle in 11 days?

The first cracks appeared in the first line.

Sandstrom suffered a small fracture above his right knee in Game 2 of the divisional finals against Edmonton. Although he came back in Game 5, he was, understandably, not quite himself on the ice.

Neither was Gretzky, who left Game 3 in the first period after being hit in the ear with a flying puck. The resulting deep cut required 25 stitches and medication that left Gretzky numb, both on the left side of his face and in the scoring column.

He finished the series with no goals and five assists. Gretzky wouldn’t blame the injury, but it was obvious he was hurting, at times unable to move much faster than the statue of him that stands in front of Northlands Coliseum.

“He was probably holding back the truth about how bad he was feeling,” owner Bruce McNall said.

No such excuses for the third member of that line, Granato, who contributed only two assists in the six games of the second round and five points in the 12 postseason games.

The line that scored more than a third of the Kings’ goals in the regular season had only nine in the postseason.

It happens. It happened to the Oilers, too.

Craig Simpson, the league’s leading goal scorer in last season’s playoffs, had only three in the first two rounds. Mark Messier, last season’s Hart Trophy winner, had only one goal in the Smythe finals. He was playing with injuries to his hands and legs.

And goalie Grant Fuhr was forced to leave in the third period of Sunday night’s series-clinching game with an arm injury.

No matter.

Esa Tikkanen, with four of his 11 postseason goals against the Kings, and Anatoli Semenov and Martin Gelinas, who had three goals and six points each against the Kings, provided the offense. Bill Ranford provided flawless relief of Fuhr in the net Sunday night.

It’s called depth.

It’s something the Kings didn’t show on offense. With the first line out of ammunition, only Luc Robitaille responded, scoring a team-record 12 postseason goals.

Linemate Dave Taylor didn’t have a point in the Oiler series. Linemate Todd Elik had two goals and a total of six points, not bad, but not the totals needed from the man expected to fill Bernie Nicholls’ spot on the second line.

The trading of Nicholls for Sandstrom and Granato was certainly worthwhile for the Kings. But now, they have to find some other offensive stars to join them.

Another area of concern is defense.

Yes, the Kings’ team defense did a 180-degree turnaround. But some real problems surfaced among the defensemen in the playoffs.

Steve Duchesne was solid, Brian Benning had his moments and Rob Blake figures to have many great moments in the future.

But beyond that, watch out.

Coach Tom Webster seemed to give up on Bob Halkidis and Tim Watters. Marty McSorley, solid at times in the regular season, seemed always to be in the wrong place in the playoffs.

Larry Robinson made an impressive comeback from last season, but if he comes back next season, it’ll be at 40.

Which brings up another nasty subject, age.

Taylor turns 36 next season, John Tonelli 35, Kelly Hrudey 31.

And Gretzky 31.

So General Manager Rogie Vachon’s tasks are clear:

--Get more offensive depth.

--Get more defensive strength.

--Get younger.

--Get some chemistry.

The fourth item, of course, is hard enough to define, much less produce. But even after the pieces of the puzzle are obtained, the chemistry is the glue that holds them together.

It’s what enables the Lakers to succeed in what Magic Johnson calls winning time. It’s what has enabled the Oilers to win five Cups in seven years.

And a lack of it is seems to plague the Kings every spring.

Every sport produces only one champion.

So the immediate goal of the Kings does not have to be a Stanley Cup.

But after a quarter-century of frustration, after millions of dollars spent by McNall on everything from salaries to a private plane, after obtaining the game’s greatest player, is it too much to ask for a trip to the third round?