New King Misfires, Blues Take Advantage : Laughlin’s Errant Pass Results in Decisive Goal as St. Louis Wins, 7-4

Craig Laughlin joined the Kings only a week ago after being acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals, but already he has developed a spirit of generosity.

His critical giveaway with 7:45 left Thursday night led to the key goal in the St. Louis Blues’ 7-4 victory over the Kings before a crowd of 11,280 at the St. Louis Arena.

The Kings, who have yet to win a game this season in which they trailed entering the third period, had cut the Blues’ lead to 5-4 midway through the final period on a spirit-lifting goal by Phil Sykes, who redirected a shot by Ken Baumgartner.

And, according to Coach Robbie Ftorek, a feeling developed on the Kings’ bench that they were going to rally for the victory, as they had Wednesday night at Minnesota.

But, as he went to make a clearing pass to Paul Fenton from behind the Kings’ net, Laughlin caught his stick on the side of the net. His errant pass headed straight to the Blues’ Gino Cavallini, alone in the slot.

Cavallini scored easily, giving the Blues a 6-4 lead.

“I’m not a defenseman, so I’m not used to being behind the net,” said Laughlin, who is a winger. “I just happened to hit it.

“That’s what sports is all about: mistakes. And I made a big mistake. What can I say? There’s nothing I can do about it. Nine of 10 times in my career, I’ll make that pass . . .

“It’s one of those things where you look like a goat, but I was trying to make the play. It wasn’t for lack of effort. I take full blame for it.”

Said Ftorek: “Frustrating sixth goal. The pass went awry. If it doesn’t, I really, really feel confident that we may have won that game.

“It’s easy to say that, but I felt we had a really good feeling on the bench, one that we’ve been looking for; one that says, ‘We’re coming back to win the game.’ Even after that happened, we played with confidence and made some things happen.”

One thing they didn’t make happen, though, was a goal.

Rick Meagher added an empty-net goal for St. Louis with six seconds left.

Still, inexplicably, Ftorek was almost giddy after the game.

Could he describe the feeling he had experienced on the bench?

“It’s a different feeling,” he said. “It’s one of knowing that you’re going to do the job and win the game. Is that confidence? I don’t know if there’s a better word for it, but that (word) is not doing justice to the feeling that’s there.

“It’s not a tangible thing, but it’s a thing everybody felt. And it’s a feeling you have to have to be successful.

“We’re talking about something that’s sort of ambiguous. But, believe me, it’s there. I’m really pumped up about it.”

Even Laughlin felt it.

“I’ve only been here four games,” he said, “but when we were down in the other games, I never really felt a sense of . . . pride, I guess.

“We got down and we’d say, ‘Here we go again.’ And we’d bow our heads.”

This time, they held their heads up, for whatever reason.

The loss was their fourth in six games and left them with a 22-36-5 record. They’ve lost more games and given up more goals (284) than any other team in the National Hockey League.

Their penalty-killing unit, however, had been overpowering of late, giving up only 4 goals in 10 games.

Against the Blues, they gave up three power-play goals.

“They worked it pretty well,” Ftorek said of the Blues’ power-play unit. “They worked (the puck) around and around and around, and they made us get out of position. They made better plays than we did.”

Two of the Blues’ first four goals were scored from in front of the net when the Kings failed to clear the slot. Another was scored on a 2-on-1 breakaway when the King defense was late in getting back into its zone.

None of that seemed to really matter, though, to Ftorek.

“I’m thinking about the feeling that was on the bench at the end of the game,” he said, “and I don’t really have a problem with the first two periods. I have that much good feeling coming out of the game.”

Imagine if he had won.

King Notes

The Kings are 0-29-2 in games in which they have trailed entering the third period. . . . Bob Ramage of the Blues, who played with Luc Robitaille last week in the All-Star game, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “You could see the glitter in his eyes. Watching him in that game, his talents as a pure goal scorer were exhibited. On his first goal, the quickness in which he released the puck reminded me of a Mike Bossy. That’s something you’re born with.” . . . Strange statistic: The Kings are 0-14 when Robitaille is held without a point.