Kings Lose Once More in St. Louis; Blues’ Mullen Stays on Record Pace

Last season, right wing Joe Mullen of the St. Louis Blues set a National Hockey League record for most goals by an American-born player with 41.

This season, Mullen is on a pace that would break that record.

He scored two more goals and had one assist Friday night to lead the Blues to a 6-3 win over the Kings before 12,358 fans at the St. Louis Arena.

The first of his goals--an unassisted effort with 11:43 left in the second period--set the tone for the night. It tied the game, knocked the Kings off stride and drew effusive praise from St. Louis Coach Jacques Demers.

“Joey Mullen is one of the greatest American hockey players,” Demers said. “He scored one of the most spectacular goals I’ve ever seen in hockey. It’s the kind of play (Wayne) Gretzky makes.”

The Kings were leading, 1-0 on a first-period goal by Anders Hakansson, when Mullen stole the puck from rookie defenseman Garry Galley and beat goalie Darren Eliot.

King Coach Pat Quinn called Mullen’s goal the turning point of the game.

“We just outright quit playing after that,” Quinn said. “We lost the one-on-ones and didn’t get any loose pucks. Who knows why it happened?”

Galley couldn’t tell him, he was still wondering how Mullen had stripped him of the puck.

“He picked my pocket,” Galley said. “I think we had a bit of a letdown after that goal. We just didn’t seem to get the momentum back. We’ve got to start being able to put more than one good game together.”

Said Mullen when told what Demers had said: “I think he got carried away a little bit. But that goal did pick us up. We were kind of dead in the first period.”

Mullen, who has scored 24 goals in 45 games this season, grew up in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York, where his father worked at Madison Square Garden. Mullen said his father used to drive the Zamboni machine at New York Ranger games. Mullen’s brother, Brian, plays for the Winnipeg Jets.

“I began playing roller hockey when I was five, and then I started playing on the ice at 10,” Mullen said.

Quinn doubted whether the Kings might have had a letdown after Wednesday night’s big win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

“To consider yourself a good hockey team, you’ve got to be able to play when you don’t have that mental edge,” Quinn said.

Quinn played a hunch by starting Eliot in goal for the second-conecutive game. The Kings had rotated Eliot with Bob Janecyk for most of the season, but Quinn said that he went with Eliot because he had played well against the Flyers.

Janecyk will probably be in the nets when the Kings play the Blues here again tonight. The Kings haven’t beaten the Blues here since Nov. 14, 1978, going 0-9-1 in that span.

Blues goalie Rick Wamsley played well Friday, making 22 saves. Wamsley, who is 4-1-0 in his last five games, figures to be back in goal for the Blues tonight.

The victory helped the Blues (20-18-8) increase their Norris Division lead over the Chicago Black Hawks to three points. It also snapped a five-game (0-3-2) home winless streak.

“It feels good, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” Demers said.

The Kings fell one game under .500 and are now 19-20-9.

King Notes

Left wing Kevin LaValle of the Blues underwent knee surgery Friday and will be lost for the rest of the season. LaValle injured his left knee Jan. 18 in a game against the Winnipeg Jets.