Kings Lag Behind in 5-4 Defeat : Hockey: Despite advantage of their own plane, they run out of gas in defeat at St. Louis.

The Kings may boast about the advantages of traveling on their own plane, but, in the last two days on the road, that hasn’t prevented them from running out of gas.

The third period has suddenly become the Bermuda Triangle.

Saturday night, the Kings lost to the St. Louis Blues, 5-4, getting only three shots on goal in the final period at St. Louis, the first not coming until 11:18 elapsed.

Twenty-four hours earlier, the Kings blew a two-goal lead to wind up tied with the Buffalo Sabres, 4-4. The Kings were outshot, 17-3, in the third period and, 5-2, in the overtime at Buffalo.

The Kings were outshot by St. Louis, 33-18. This is a team that leads the Campbell Conference in scoring and is second in the league with 232 goals.

“If you want to talk about what we didn’t do well, you can talk about everything,” King Coach Tom Webster said. “I’m not so concerned with the shots on goal. I’m concerned with the way we played. The shots on goal were just indicative.”

Despite dropping to 31-19-6, the Kings are on a pace that would give them the best record in club history. They lead the Smythe Division, were 5-1-1 in their previous seven games and ended this trip 2-1-1.

Hardly time to panic.

But the loss, coupled with a Calgary victory Saturday, has cut the six-point lead the Kings enjoyed over the Flames just a few days ago in half.

The Kings come home to face Calgary Tuesday night, then go to Edmonton to play the third-place Oilers Thursday night.

“I think it will be good to see how we react to being in first place and playing these big, big divisional games,” goalie Kelly Hrudey said. “We’ve got a little adversity. Let’s see how we come out.”

Despite the Kings’ problems, this game came down to a weird bounce of the puck.

With the Kings trailing, 4-3, early in the third period and the Blues on a power play, Geoff Courtnall took a shot that bounced off Hrudey’s glove, went over his head, hit the Kings’ goalie in the back and came to rest for an instant in the crease.

“Incredibly, it hit me from behind,” Hrudey said. “After it had hit my glove, I was starting to catch my balance seconds later when it hit me high on the back. I knew that would not be good news so close to the goal, but I have no idea what happened.”

Nobody else seemed too sure, either. The only thing that could be said without question was that the puck crossed the line.

After hitting Hrudey, the puck seemed to stop just short of the goal line, where King defenseman Tim Watters and St. Louis wing Steve Tuttle lunged for it.

A blink of the eye later, it was across the line. Watters said he didn’t touch it. Tuttle was given credit for the goal.

But after a review of the tape, Courtnall was given his 21st goal and second of the game.

It was also St. Louis’ third power-play goal in six tries.

Earlier, Brett Hull earlier scored his 58th goal and Adam Oates his 15th on power plays. It was Oates’ second goal of the game.

Hull grabs the headlines, but Oates has been on a tear of his own with four goals and 24 assists in nine games.

Scoring for the Kings were Dave Taylor (15th goal), Luc Robitaille (31st), Rob Blake (sixth) and Todd Elik (14th).

Wayne Gretzky got one assist and four shots on goal after being held without a shot in the previous two games.

“We’re not overly concerned,” he said. “The one thing we don’t have to worry about is our offense.”

The victory was a big one for St. Louis. In improving to 33-16-7 and winning their fifth in a row at home before a sellout crowd of 18,299, the Blues picked up two points on the Chicago Blackhawks, who lost Saturday, to move to within one point of the Norris Division leaders.

“St. Louis played well,” Webster said. “You’ve got to give some credit somewhere.”

But the way he felt Saturday night, he wasn’t about to give much to his own team.

King Notes

King defenseman Marty McSorley sat out with a twisted ankle. . . . Also out is defenseman Larry Robinson, who missed the trip with back strain. . . . Wing Tony Granato returned to the lineup after sitting out Friday’s game against Buffalo with flu.