Another King-Sized Losing Streak Ends--This Time in St. Louis, 7-3

ST. LOUIS — A week of streak-busting has just passed for the Kings.

Four nights ago, they snapped a home losing streak of 11 years, 3 months and 3 days when they beat the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time in Los Angeles since Oct. 20, 1973.

The Kings broke another long losing streak Saturday night when they defeated the St. Louis Blues, 7-3, before 14,203 fans at the St. Louis Arena.

It was the Kings’ first win here since Nov. 14, 1978. The Kings were winless at St. Louis in their last 10 games (0-9-1), including a 6-3 loss Friday night.

“I just heard the players talking about how they’d broken another streak--I didn’t know it was that long,” first-year Coach Pat Quinn said. “It’s strange how those streaks build up, but L.A. seemed to have more of them than other teams.

“We didn’t change anything tonight, just our mental outlook. Last night we made a lot of blatant errors. But we played a lot smarter tonight.”

The Kings held a 15-minute meeting after practice Saturday morning to work out their problems.

“I think we ironed out a few things, and hopefully we can build on this win because we’ve got a long home stand coming up,” said Dave Taylor, who scored two goals. “We’d like to get a roll going. It seems that lately we have been losing one and then winning one.”

Center Marcel Dionne also played a good game, scoring his 30th goal of the season on a third-period power-play and picking up three assists.

Dionne said the Kings should have swept the two-game series from the Blues.

“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “We have been beating ourselves and we haven’t been consistent. We knew we could come in here and take two games, but instead we won one. We have to find our own identity. I think the veterans have to take charge.”

Saturday night, the Kings came through on the power play, scoring three goals in six chances.

Left wing Brian MacLellan scored a power-play goal and had two assists.

Goalie Bob Janecyk also played well, making 30 saves.

St. Louis Coach Jacques Demers was angry after the game.

“Let’s not kid ourselves--we outsmarted L.A. in every aspect of the game Friday night,” he said, “(and) tonight they outplayed us in every aspect. We didn’t do our jobs tonight.”

The Kings also did a good job of stopping St. Louis right wing Joe Mullen. Mullen had two goals Friday night but did not have one in the rematch. He was limited to three shots on goal.

Right wing Greg Paslawski led the Blues with two goals.

The Kings evened their record at .500 (20-20-9) and moved within three points of the third-place Winnipeg Jets in the Smythe Division. The Blues (20-19-8)) had their Norris Division lead cut to one point over the Chicago Black Hawks.

The Kings led, 4-3, going into the final period.

Dionne scored just 33 seconds into the final period on a power play. Taylor got his second goal of the game at 6:22 of the third period and captain Terry Ruskowski scored an empty-net goal with 2:40 left off a pass from Jim Fox.

The Blues started fast, scoring on their third shot of the game.

St. Louis took a 1-0 lead at 4:21 of the first period when Paslawski scored his eighth goal of the season. Janecyk blocked Paslawski’s first shot, but Paslawski got his own rebound and put it in.

However, the Kings tied it at 1-1 when wing Phil Sykes scored his second goal of the season. Center Bob Miller gave Sykes a nice pass in the slot, and Sykes just reached out with his stick and knocked the puck past Blues goalie Rick Wamsley.

The Kings had a four-on-three advantage with 8:21 left after wing Jim Fox and Blues’ center Doug Wickenheiser were penalized for roughing and St. Louis defenseman Gilbert Delorme was called for holding.

MacLellan scored a power-play goal with 7:35 left off a rebound of a shot by Mark Hardy to put the Kings up, 2-1, at the end of the first period.

The Blues tied it at 2-2 just 3:56 into the second period, however, on a goal by left wing Brian Sutter.

But the Kings scored two consecutive goals to take a 4-2 lead.

King Notes

The Kings play the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night at the Forum in the first game of a four-game home stand. . . . The Kings’ scratches were defenseman Garry Galley and left wing Carl Mokosak. Right wing Perry Ganchar and defenseman Dwight Schofield were scratched for the Blues.