Kings Know the Pressure Is on Them : NHL playoffs: Glad to have won title, they remain wary of Canucks, who have made trades to shore up weaknesses.

Finally, after 24 years, the Kings have their first crown.

But the championship of the Smythe Division, the first title won by the Kings, will quickly become a crown of thorns unless it is matched by equal success in the days ahead.

Yes, it was nice to end nearly a quarter-century of frustrating regular seasons. But the darkest demons have lurked in the postseason, where the Kings have never advanced beyond the second round.

Until that happens, no King team is willing to claim success. The Kings, to a man, will tell you they haven’t really won anything yet.

That could all change starting tonight at the Forum, opening night for the Kings’ second season, the real season.

The Kings will open the playoffs with a best-of-seven series against the Vancouver Canucks. Games 1 and 2 will be at the Forum tonight and Saturday. Games 3 and 4 will be at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum Monday and Wednesday.

For one of the few times in their history, the Kings enter the playoffs as heavy favorites, fair enough considering they finished 37 points ahead of the Canucks.

But that doesn’t mean there’s no pressure--just the opposite.

“The season I felt the most pressure,” King defenseman Larry Robinson said, “was the year (1976-77) we lost only eight regular-season games (when I was with) Montreal. If we had not won the Cup that year, it would have all been out the door. If you have a good season, but then a bad playoff, it’s all gone. People have short memories. They always remember what you did last.”

Whatever the pressure, this is what the Kings have dreamed of. They have thought they could never get to the Stanley Cup by taking the long road through both Calgary and Edmonton. In each of the past two seasons, they have bumped off the defending Stanley Cup champion, first Edmonton, then Calgary, only to be swept by the other team in the second round, their strength depleted, their emotion drained.

Now, the divisional title has given the Kings the easier first-round opponent--at least on paper. While the Flames and the Oilers collide up north, the Kings will face a fourth-place team that has made losing its trademark. Vancouver has been below .500 for 15 consecutive seasons, an NHL record.

The Canucks, 28-43-9 this season for a total of 65 points, barely outlasted the Winnipeg Jets for the final Smythe playoff spot in a battle laughingly described as a turtle race by a Vancouver newspaper.

The Canucks lost five of eight games against the Kings, who finished 46-24-10, good for 102 points.

The 46 victories are a club record. The team also set a club mark with 26 victories at the Forum.

The Kings are not only looking good, but feeling good as well. With the news that forward Tomas Sandstrom, who had back spasms, and defenseman Rob Blake, who had a pulled rib, practiced Wednesday, the club is at full strength for tonight’s game.

That’s about 180 degrees from where they were a year ago. Then, they opened the playoffs in Calgary. But Wayne Gretzky opened them in Los Angeles, out of action with back problems that rendered him ineffective for much of the short postseason.

“It was sad,” he said of last season’s playoffs. “That’s what you play for. The 80 games of the regular season are not exhibitions, but they are not what it’s all about. When your doctor tells you you can’t play, it’s devastating. That’s why I’m champing at the bit right now.”

So are Gretzky’s teammates, but if their words of caution are accurate, look for them to take the ice for tonight’s 7:30 faceoff like troops stepping into a known minefield.

For one thing, the Kings have just spent two days in a special playoff training camp at Lake Arrowhead, watching films of the Canucks and listening to their coach, Tom Webster, go on and on about the evils of overconfidence.

For another, the Kings have become students of recent history.

They know all too well that two seasons ago, eventual Stanley Cup champion Calgary opened the playoffs against a Vancouver club that was 33-39-8.

The Flames won that series--in overtime of the seventh game.

“They came with an attitude,” Calgary’s Doug Gilmour recalled of those Canucks, “and we weren’t as scared as we should have been. We weren’t afraid of losing.”

The Kings also know that the Vancouver club they will be facing is not the one they beat five times in their first seven meetings this season.

The Canucks made two key moves in March, just before the trading deadline.

First, they dealt Dan Quinn and Garth Butcher to the St. Louis Blues for left wings Geoff Courtnall and Sergio Momesso, center Cliff Ronning and defenseman Robert Dirk. That has added much needed speed and scoring punch to Vancouver. Courtnall, Ronning and Momesso scored half of the Canucks’ final 36 goals.

Another important deal brought defenseman Dana Murzyn from Calgary to shore up Vancouver’s weak back line.

The Kings got a look at the new Canucks in their final meeting, less than three weeks ago. It was the day after the Kings beat the Flames at Calgary in a key late-season showdown. The Kings looked flat, overconfident.

And ripe.

And sure enough, Vancouver surprised them, 5-4, in overtime.

Don’t think Webster hasn’t shown that tape a few times in the last few days.

The Canucks are even talking uncharacteristically tough.

Coach Pat Quinn, who once held the same position with the Kings, told the Vancouver Sun: “They (the Kings) are happy playing us because we are not known as a physical team. They know Edmonton or Calgary would knock the tar out of them.”

Big talk, but what does Quinn have to lose? Few outside Vancouver expect him to win.

The big pressure is on the Kings.

They’ve waited 24 years to sit on this throne. They’d like to enjoy the view for more than a few days.