Time to Take a Step Above Satisfaction

DENVER —  Awakening this morning still dressed in the drama of a Game 7, your faithful correspondent would like to jump up and report that the Kings tried hard, the Kings are great guys, the Kings are still our champs.

But he awakens instead with wrinkled clothes, swollen eyes, and the truth throbbing like a two-year hangover.

Gritty is getting old. Charming is feeling. Resilient reeks.

The Kings have failed to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 25th time in the 34-year history of the organization, and does it really matter how it happened?

For all their heartwarming vibes and inspirational reflections, the Kings once again have ended their season by being kicked under the couch like a cheap romance novel.

For all the talk of how they pushed Colorado Avalanche to a second consecutive Game 7, the final score was again a blowout, this time, 4-0.

And for all the predictions of progress, this year they were eliminated in the first round, or about two weeks earlier than last year.

If anybody in town is happy with any part of that, then, well, that is what is wrong with the Kings.

So they forced a deciding game against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

So? They wouldn’t have been seeded seventh and matched against those champions if, in the regular season, they had not lost at home to the likes of Columbus, Minnesota and Tampa Bay.

So they nearly pulled off an impossible comeback from a three-games-to-one deficit.

So? Heroics would not have been necessary if, in the first two games here, their defense should have figured a way to mold six goals against Patrick Roy into at least one victory. Roy, incidentally, gave up only six more goals the rest of the series.

I can see the e-mails now:

Andy Murray is a wonderful coach. Dave Taylor is a smart general manager. The Kings are inspirational players. You danged fool.

Save your keystrokes. I agree with all of that. Even, sometimes, the fool part.

The coach is well prepared. His boss has made some good deals. The players usually show up.

But for the organization to take the next step forward, they must admit that is not enough.

They must acknowledge that this season was not a success.

They must admit that losing in consecutive Game 7s at the Pepsi Center is not the real thing.

It is the Kings, not the Avalanche, who have the richest owner in professional sports.

It is the Kings, not the Avalanche, who have the sports world’s finest money-making arena.

It is the Kings, not the Avalanche, who even have the best player-attracting practice facility.

Yet on Monday, it was the Avalanche which, “Played, by far, the best game of this round,” said Coach Bob Hartley.

And it was the Kings who, “Actually played better in the first five minutes of the second period than in the first period,” Murray said.

Hard to imagine a team not playing its best in the first period of any sort of Game 7, isn’t it?

The Avalanche, which outshot the Kings, 12-3, in the first period, then used that momentum five minutes into the second period, like a strong breeze, to push Chris Drury past three Kings on a spectacular goal.

The last two Kings beaten on the play were Mathieu Schneider and Brad Chartrand, and don’t think Murray didn’t notice.

“He skated past a forward and a defenseman, that’s something he should not have been able to do,” the coach said.

The Avalanche then took advantage of the Kings’ disappointment with another goal less than a minute later, from Alex Tanguay, this one also past Schneider, who finished the game as a minus-four.

And that was that. Again.

Yet today we’ll probably hear how it was a great run, how fun, and so what if they fell only one game short, they’ll get them next year!

Just wondering, but what would we be hearing if the Kings were the Lakers? How badly would they be ripped if they were the Dodgers?

To think that this series or season was acceptable is to insult Murray and the feelings of empowerment he is trying to instill.

One New York newspaper picked the Kings to win the Stanley Cup. Many picked them to win this series. Only four points separated these teams during the regular season.

Said Murray: “Last year, I don’t know if we felt the sense of disappointment that we feel now.”

Said King President Tim Leiweke: “This stinks. Unlike last year, we weren’t just happy to be here. We have to figure out a way to go beyond this point.”

Good words. Time for actions. They don’t need much, but they do need more.

Depleted by injuries in this series, they need more depth and more scoring.

And they need more accountability, both in their offices and their community, a belief that this 25th year of failing to advance past the first round of the playoffs is not a happy anniversary.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected].