STANLEY CUP FINALS : Undermanned Kings Stand Up to Crush : Defense: Hampered by absence of Huddy and penalty by McSorley, they end up with nothing to show for their effort.

The dressing room door was finally thrust open, the international media stormed the threshold . . . and the Kings were nowhere to be found.

Not surprising. You play three overtime games in a row, you lose each of them with the Stanley Cup at stake, you seek sanctuary while you gather the strength and courage necessary to pick body and soul off the floor.

From behind a partition, owner Bruce McNall spotted the microphoned masses and asked for volunteers. “Ten dollars to anyone who wants to go out there,” he called over his shoulder, a feeble attempt to lighten the mood.

Finally, a bare-chested Mark Hardy took the great leap forward, taking one for the team, serving up himself as the sacrificial first interview.

“I’ll talk to them,” Hardy boldly declared as the crush enveloped him.

Postgame or mid-game, it was the same story Monday night.

Another beleaguered King defenseman, stepping up.

“What can I say?” Hardy sighed. “We gave it our all. We never died. We kept coming and coming.”

It was the only option Hardy figured he had. For 75 minutes, the understaffed King defense had stood resolute, killing penalties, leveling Canadien forwards, clearing the crease, buying time.

They began Game 4 of this Stanley Cup final minus Charlie Huddy, sidelined because of torn knee ligaments.

For another 10 minutes, they were without Marty McSorley, sequestered in the penalty box for major misconduct.

As Montreal sent wave after wave at Kelly Hrudey, Hardy and his crew withstood the charge, seemingly at the break point of exhaustion from the middle of the first period on.

Most of Game 4 transpired behind the Kings’ blue line, where Hardy and the defense never rested because rest was never an alternative.

“We could have gone on all night,” Rob Blake said.

And it might have, if a stray puck hadn’t ricocheted off Darryl Sydor’s shin pad and past Hrudey at 14:37 of overtime.

Blake looked spent. A sympathetic voice asked how tired he was.

“A little,” Blake replied, no longer breathing heavily. “We battled hard.

“You got to give them credit. We took it to them hard all night. They stood up to it.”

The Kings fell behind, 2-0, at 5:24 of the second period, then shut down Montreal through the remainder of regulation, far into another overtime period.

Overtime again? Of course. Only on this occasion, the Kings lasted more than a minute. On this occasion, they forced the action, heading at the very least for a second overtime until another hop of the puck beat them.

“You can’t sit back and wait to lose a hockey game,” McSorley said, “so we went right at them in overtime.”

McSorley was largely responsible for the extra ice time, pumping home a behind-the-net pass from Wayne Gretzky five seconds before the horn sounded to end the second period.

But the third period was too much Patrick Roy, again, and no matter how many potential game-winners Hrudey turned away, the destination was as inevitable as the flight back to Montreal.

Canadiens win in overtime, for the 10th time in the tournament.

“We lost three hockey games we easily could have won,” McSorley said, searching for a positive thought to take up the jetway. “We were capable of winning each of these games.

“Nothing’s over. The fat lady hasn’t sung.”

Added Blake: “We got to just put this behind us and forget about it. We have another game Wednesday. We’re not going to lie down and die.”