Kings Get Buffaloed by Sabres : Hockey: Slump continues as Hrudey gets the hook after seven shots, three goals in third straight loss for L.A., 5-3.

While the Kings were wrapping up a disastrous trip with their third straight loss, a 5-3 defeat to the Sabres Sunday night, owner Bruce McNall was sitting in the Buffalo Auditorium holding his head in his hands and general manager Rogie Vachon was in Quebec, trying to work up a trade that will turn the team around.

The Kings, who went under .500 the night before for the first time in the era of Wayne Gretzky, are two games under at 7-9-0.

King Coach Tom Webster was shaking his head, not believing that what his team is most sorely lacking these days is offense.

“Who would have thought that?” he said. “Who would have thought I’d be telling them to open it up more and take some chances if they have to?”

Wayne Gretzky seconded that, saying: “We’ve been concentrating on defense that we haven’t had a 30-shot night in a long time.”

The Kings opened up the game in the third period and scored a couple of goals, trying to climb out of a four-goal hole, but came up short.

Buffalo’s biggest crowd of the season--16,433--turned out to back the Sabres as they remained undefeated at home and improved their record to 9-4-2.

This is a team the Kings swept last season.

The Sabres took control early at the expense of goalie Kelly Hrudey, who gave way to Mario Gosselin after giving up three goals on seven shots in the first period.

The first goal he gave up, a rebound shot to Kevin Maguire after Hrudey made the stop on a shot by Mike Ramsey that was deflected at him by Mike Hartman, wasn’t so hard to take. Those happen.

The second was crushing. Hrudey gathered up a puck that was been sent into his zone on a clearing pass and was simply flipping it back the other way when, at the last moment, he saw the Sabres’ Dave Snuggerud sailing toward him. Too late. He couldn’t call the puck back. It went right to Snuggerud, who fired it past the cringing goalie.

“That kind of thing is exactly what we don’t need right now,” Hrudey said. “We’ve been fighting our own confidence, and then you have a thing like that. It’s Murphy’s Law. That came at the worst possible time.”

Luc Robitaille deflected in a shot by Bob Kudelski to tie the game just before Hrudey gave the puck to Snuggerud for another go-ahead goal.

The Sabres’ third goal, the first of two for Hartman, Hrudey actually knocked in himself as he rolled around in the crease trying to find the puck after making the stop on a shot by Uwe Krupp.

“You never want to get pulled, but at that point, I would have to agree with the coach,” Hrudey said. “Sometimes you do it to shake up the team. Tonight’s decision, I can’t argue with. It was not a bad move.”

Gosselin gave up one goal--to Hartman--in the second period on 10 shots. And Gosselin gave up one goal on 10 shots in the third, at 48 seconds of the period, when Phil Housley put in his own rebound to make it 5-1.

Murphy’s Law struck the Kings at the end of the second period, too, when goal by Jay Miller was ruled no-goal by officials who thought the puck--although behind Sabre goalie Daren Puppa, never crossed the red line. TV replay showed it did.

Sabre Coach Rick Dudley threw an admirable tantrum later when he thought the Kings’ final goal, credited to Robitaille, should have been called back because the net was off its moorings. Even though he was up by three goals and just 2 minutes 13 seconds remained in the game, Dudley turned to the glass behind him and banged it repeatedly with his arms. Turning back to face the officials, he gritted his teeth and appeared to growl, while glaring with wide eyes and flaring nostrils.

His later comments were quite calm by comparison. He explained: “The net was off before the puck went in. Regardless of how the net came off, by them or by us, it’s not a goal. It’s a penalty shot at worst.”

Gretzky, who picked up an assist on that goal as well as on a very nice goal by Bernie Nicholls on a pass from Gretzky earlier in the period, has played more than 35 minutes on successive nights and is trying, according to his coach, to step forward and take charge.

Gretzky played more than 35 minutes Saturday night at Hartford and at least as long Sunday night.

“He’s leading the team,” Webster said. “That’s a tremendous amount of time.”

But Gretzky’s not complaining. He’s more frustrated with the Kings’ slump than anyone.

Gretzky does not like losing.

“We were one minute away from winning at Boston and that could have taken us into Saturday and Sunday, but we struggled Saturday and Sunday,” Gretzky said. “This has been a long trip, the longest trip of the year for us.

“Now we have to go home and regroup. What we’re going through right now is something we’re all not happy about.”

King Notes

The Kings’ schedule doesn’t get any easier. They face defending Stanley Cup champion Calgary on Wednesday and Stanley Cup finalist Montreal on Saturday before taking to the road again to play at Calgary and at Edmonton. . . . The Kings have lost six of eight. . . . Asked if the Kings would be bringing help up from their International Hockey League affiliate at New Haven, Coach Tom Webster said: “They’re having problems of their own. They’re struggling. If somebody like Chris Kontos were going good, sure, we’d bring him up. You’d like to reward the players who are playing well. But who would that be? That’s what we went to their game at Springfield the other night looking for.” . . . The Kings lost three straight games last year, Jan. 26-31, in the midst of their eight-game winless streak, but they did not lose four straight. . . . It took seven police officers to escort Wayne Gretzky through the crowd Sunday night as he tried to make his way from the dressing room to the limo that was waiting in the building, one floor below. Gretzky and a few of the other players flew back to L.A. on owner Bruce McNall’s private plane Sunday night while the rest of the team took commercial flights on Monday.