Stauber Saves Kings’ Defense Again : Hockey: Goaltender improves his record to 9-0-1 with 44 saves in 6-3 victory over Blues.

Punishment for the Kings these days is swift and nearly inflexible. Turn the puck over in your zone and the bench becomes the new place of residence.

In the Kings’ 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum, the decision-making of Coach Barry Melrose was put to the test several times in regard to his young defensemen.

In the second period, defenseman Darryl Sydor gave the puck away and it nearly resulted in a goal by St. Louis center Kevin Miller at 9:38, which would have tied the score, 2-2. But referee Ron Hoggarth lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle before Miller put the puck past King goaltender Robb Stauber.

So the Kings got away unscathed. Sydor wasn’t so lucky. He was banished to the bench the rest of the game and forward Marty McSorley moved back to defense.

Sydor wasn’t the only King to face the wrath of Melrose. Defenseman Jeff Chychrun saw little action as did Brent Thompson. Alexei Zhitnik was briefly benched but worked his way out of disfavor by the end of the game.

“I told these guys, ‘I don’t care if you make mistakes by being aggressive,’ ” Melrose said. “Syd’s sitting back, being passive. He wasn’t ready mentally to play. It doesn’t hurt a kid to sit. These kids have to learn to be mentally ready to play.”

Said defenseman Rob Blake: “We all know if it gets to a certain point, he’ll do something. (Melrose) knows Darryl Sydor, Brent Thompson and Alex Zhitnik are good young defensemen. He just expects a lot from them. No, I haven’t been benched this season, but I’ve been there before. I hope that time doesn’t come again.”

But Melrose’s approach seems to be working with most of the Kings. Center John McIntyre, who was benched during Thursday’s loss to Quebec, showed some extra jump on Saturday and assisted on the first goal of the game, by Marty McSorley at 1:13 of the first period.

Despite some lethargic spells in the first and second periods, the Kings (20-8-3) increased their lead in the Smythe Division to five points over second-place Calgary, which tied Ottawa. Stauber was at his best in the second period when his teammates started getting caught in their own zone. The victory kept Stauber’s unbeaten streak going as he is 9-0-1 this season. He faced 47 shots.

“What I have to do is get in the way of the puck, no matter how many times,” Stauber said. “I can’t say, ‘Hey, it’s been too many.’ ” This was Stauber’s seventh consecutive victory, which tied the club record set by Kelly Hrudey last season. The Kings are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games and have the second-best record in the NHL, behind Pittsburgh.

What turned the game in the Kings’ favor was a stretch of 4:05 in the second period when they scored three consecutive goals, turning a tie game into a 4-1 lead.

Corey Millen, who has 13 goals in the last 13 games, started the three-goal run with his 18th of the season. McSorley, who had a goal and an assist, drew attention from the Blues at the right circle and fed the puck to Millen at the left crease. Millen had trouble handling the puck but put it into an empty net when goaltender Curtis Joseph was drawn to the other side.

The Kings then took advantage of a bad bounce off the end boards when defenseman Charlie Huddy fired the puck in. Forward Pat Conacher alertly jumped up in the zone and put the puck into an empty net with Joseph hung out to dry. King left wing Mike Donnelly made it 4-1 at 12:46, finishing off a two-on-none.

The other King goals came in the third period from Zhitnik and Donnelly, who scored his second of the game on an empty-netter with 8.6 seconds remaining.

King Notes

In all likelihood, the NHL’s two expansion teams in Orange County and South Florida will get the fourth and fifth draft choices at the entry draft in June at Quebec City, assuming both teams start play next season. There was much discussion at the Board of Governors’ meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., about maintaining fairness to the teams in San Jose, Tampa Bay and Ottawa. No official decision has been made, but there would be a great deal of opposition if the two new franchises were able to select ahead of the other three. “The sentiment among the governors is to protect the draft picks of San Jose, Tampa Bay and Ottawa,” King owner Bruce McNall said. McNall, on whether the teams would start next season: “They’d like to. It’s tough to get everything together so quickly, like leases and things. We would want everything to be done in a professional way. We don’t have any deadlines.”

Right wing Tomas Sandstrom, who has been out of the lineup since Nov. 21 with a broken left forearm, has resumed skating. Friday, Sandstrom skated with two of his injured teammates, Dave Ta2037149554three weeks. . . . The other scratches Saturday were right wing Bob Kudelski and left wing Warren Rychel (left ankle bruise). . . . The Kings’ line of Mike Donnelly-Corey Millen-Tony Granato has combined for 55 points in the last 10 games--25 goals and 30 assists.