Kings 5, Avalanche 3

LOS ANGELES (AP) Tony Granato is aware of what his place in NHL history will be if the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup. And he's confident he has the players to make it happen.

Perhaps the Los Angeles Kings caught the Avalanche looking too far ahead Wednesday night, because they stunned Colorado 5-3 with one of their most inspired efforts of the season.

Granato is trying to become only the fourth coach in history to win a Stanley Cup with a team he took over during the season. Dick Irvin replaced Art Duncan with Toronto in 1931-32, Al MacNeil replaced Claude Ruel in Montreal in 1970-71, and Larry Robinson replaced Robbie Ftorek with New Jersey three seasons ago.

``I know I have a great team and a great staff, and I know I have a chance to win,'' said Granato, 30-15-4 since replacing Bob Hartley as coach on Dec. 19. ``All the cards are in place. We obviously believe in ourselves, and it's important that we get out there and give everything we've got to live up to those expectations.''

One thing the Avalanche won't have to worry about is facing the Kings in the playoffs because Los Angeles was mathematically eliminated from postseason contention March 25.

Injuries lave left coach Andy Murray's team as a shell of the upstart bunch that took Colorado to a deciding seventh game in each of the previous two years before losing.

``They're looking toward the playoffs, so we wanted to maybe stop them from getting a spot higher in the standings or do something negative because they ended our season two years in a row,'' Kings defenseman Aaron Miller said.

``We beat then in the last game for once,'' said Ian Laperriere, who tied it at 3 early in the third period with his first goal at Staples Center since opening night.

Colorado might need the Kings' help to beat out Vancouver for first place in the Northwest Division and win an NHL-record ninth straight division title. Los Angeles plays at Vancouver in Sunday's regular-season finale, while the Avalanche host St. Louis. The Avalanche and Canucks are separated by three points.

Colorado still has a three-point lead on the Blues for fourth place in the Western Conference standings and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Avalanche are 13-1-2 in their last 16 home games, with the loss coming in overtime.

The Kings finished their home schedule 19-20-2, after going 22-13-6 last season. The 20 home losses matched the second-highest total by the franchise since losing a club-record 27 games at the Forum in 1985-86.

Despite their dismal season, the Kings had 25 sellouts at Staples Center and finished with a club-record home attendance of 720,186 an average of 17,566.

``We've always had great fans,'' Laperriere said. ``And with the season we've had, this just tells you how great our fans are. They just stick with us and they believe in us. They knew what we were going through with all those injuries, and they deserved a win like this, just because they supported us all year.''< ^Notes:@ Colorado's Milan Hejduk scored his 47th goal and 21st in 28 games. Martin Skoula and Steve Reinprecht also scored for the Avalanche. ... The win was just the third for the Kings when they went into the third period trailing. ... Patrick Roy allowed more than two goals for only the second time in his last 13 starts. ... Eric Belanger had two goals and an assist and Ziggy Palffy had a goal and two assists for the Kings. Derek Armstrong added a goal and an assist.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)