Instead of Singing Blues, Kings Beat Them, 5-3 : L.A.’s Three-Goal Third Period Is Decisive in a Battle of Teams Beset by Woes

Misery loves company, so it seemed appropriate that the Kings traveled here to play two games in two nights against another problem-plagued team, the St. Louis Blues.

Fine time to visit. They’re expecting more snow here. And the way luck has been falling for the Blues, more than a few people are expecting that it may snow inside the Arena, the rickety cave where the Blues play and where hockey blues are sung.

So, here the Kings have come and found a tear-soaked shoulder on which to cry. Which didn’t stop the Kings from compounding the Blues’ misery by coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win, 5-3, Friday night before 12,270 fans who thought they had seen it all.

They’ve certainly been through it all, here in the Norris Division. It is a division in which no team is better than .500 and in which St. Louis, at 16-20-7, holds down fifth place. Again.

Of course, much sympathy is heaped on the Kings, playing through a span that has been not only difficult for the franchise but also trying for the players. With the expulsion of Coach Pat Quinn for the duration of a National Hockey League investigation into conflict-of-interest charges, it had looked as if the Kings (20-21-4), themselves still dreaming of .500, were one of the most woe-beset teams in the NHL and would be for a while.

Pardon the Blues if they aren’t sympathetic. They’ve been singing the blues of their own, with five key players injured and little hope of their return.

A quick medical report.

--Not back from bad backs: Kent Carlson and Eddy Beers have suffered bizarre but crippling back injuries. Carlson is out for the season after undergoing a spinal fusion, and Beers, who was injured the first week of training camp, had surgery on ruptured disks. Both are lost for the season.

--Shouldering the pain: On Nov. 15, team captain Brian Sutter re-ripped the muscles in his left shoulder, an injury of such severity that he is expected to miss up to six months.

--Freak accidents: Left wing Jocelyn Lemieux had the tendon in the little finger of his left hand severed to the bone when a security guard skated over his hand at a the Blues’ annual Christmas party, and center Bernie Federko broke his jaw in two places after colliding full-speed with teammate Mark Hunter in a game a week ago. Federko remains the team’s leading scorer, even while sidelined with the wired-shut jaw.

All of this has kept the local Red Cross busy but has whittled the Blues’ roster to such an extent that they played three lines and four defensemen against the Kings’ four lines, solid ones, and six healthy defensemen. Well, five. The Kings’ Mark Hardy was escorted off the ice at 4:57 in the first period to sit out a game misconduct, and the Kings proceeded to double-shift Grant Ledyard and Jay Wells, a fine enough compensation.

Defense was the operative word for a first period in which the Kings’ third-ranked offense was held to one goal, by Luc Robitaille off a rebound.

However, the Kings allowed goals by Gino Cavallini, Ron Flockhart and Doug Gilmour of the Blues, whose walking wounded can skate well, and trailed after the period, 3-1.

“It was early in the game, we knew that we could come back,” King winger Bryan Erickson said.

The Kings, according to Coach Mike Murphy, “inched our way back” with Dave Taylor’s goal in the second period and an explosion of three goals in the third, a period in which they outshot the Blues, 10-2.

Two of those third-period goals were oddities. On the tying goal by Morris Lukowich, at the 11-minute mark, the puck, Lukowich, St. Louis goaltender Greg Millen and defenseman Tim Bothwell all went into the goal. And then there was a rare breakaway goal at 15:12 by the wily Marcel Dionne, who never ceases to surprise himself or goaltenders.

“Tonight we were patient, very patient,” Dionne said, allowing himself the smallest of smiles. “I could feel they were tired a little bit. We felt that if we kept pressing them, we could come back.”

Even Dionne was laughing at his uncharacteristic goal, one of 38 shots on goal by the Kings (the Blues had only 15), and about his rare, celebratory two-step after it.

Why did Dionne bask in the goal?

“I always think it’s my last one,” the 35-year-old veteran said.

For the Kings, whose Jimmy Carson scored the game’s final goal, the win and the way it was engineered could signal an upturn, a change of fortunes.

For St. Louis, which gauges its team’s progress by medical charts, the loss was not as disheartening as it may seem.

Heck, they’re used to it. And anything they can do to help out the Kings in their time of need, the Blues will provide.

King Notes King General Manager Rogie Vachon was in the press box Friday night, minus his trademark cigar. When a reporter asked when he had taken up cigarette smoking, Vachon, looking wan after a week of controversy, said: “I didn’t smoke. I do now.”