Hrudey Good, but Flames Are Better : Hockey: Kings lose late goal on replay and fall to Calgary, 2-1.

The Kings have found a dizzying variety of ways to lose games since early December.

This time, however, they certainly couldn’t blame their goaltending for the latest defeat, a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday night before a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum.

King goaltender Kelly Hrudey showed signs of regaining his confidence, stopping 28 of the Flames’ 30 shots on goal. But the Kings left him home alone on both of Calgary’s goals.

Despite dominating the final five minutes, the Kings were thwarted by Calgary goaltender Jeff Reese, who hasn’t lost to the Kings in five career appearances. Reese started in place of Mike Vernon, who had made 27 consecutive starts.

With 4:50 remaining, it appeared as though the Kings had tied the game at 2. Defenseman Rob Blake launched a slap shot from the blue line that changed direction and hit Jari Kurri at the right crease and went past Reese.

The Flames immediately protested and the play was reviewed by video goal judge Jeff Raelson, who ruled that it was no goal, saying that Kurri had directed it in with his shoulder.

Less than 30 seconds later, the Kings lost right wing Tomas Sandstrom for the rest of the game. Sandstrom was hit by a Paul Coffey slap shot and left the ice, bleeding from the mouth.

The Kings (24-21-5) continue to struggle at home, winning only one of their last 12 at the Forum. But Calgary (26-19-6) also came into the game a struggling team, despite their second-place standing in the Smythe Division. The Flames were winless in their last 11 games (0-9-2), which tied a club record set in 1986. And they were without defenseman Al MacInnis, who isn’t quite ready to return to the lineup yet. The Flames had hoped that MacInnis could see some limited action on the power play.

Instead, defenseman Gary Suter rallied the Flames as he scored once and helped set up Gary Roberts’ game-winning goal in the third period.

Roberts, all alone in front, put a quick one-timer up high on the stick side past Hrudey at 2:11 of the third to break the 1-1 tie. The Flames had nearly scored a shorthanded goal about 40 seconds earlier when Roberts picked up off a centering pass by Wayne Gretzky. Hrudey looked beaten on the play but managed to tip the puck away into the left corner.

Sandstrom, who has six goals in his last four games, had opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 17:46 of the second period for his 18th of the season.

Meanwhile, the Kings remain under the specter of a possible trade. Rumors have been flying for the last two weeks, which isn’t surprising when a team is mired in a six-week slump.

One thing seems certain. Detroit forward Keith Primeau won’t be heading to Los Angeles, according to Red Wing General Manager and Coach Bryan Murray. Primeau, the Red Wings’ No. 1 draft pick (third overall) in 1990 is unhappy and has asked for a trade due to his lack of playing time and being forced to play out of position.

Murray claims that the Kings have not asked him about Primeau, saying: “I can guarantee they won’t get him.”

The first week of the season, the Kings and the Red Wings came very close to a deal that would have sent center Jimmy Carson and minor league forwards Gary Shuchuk and Marc Potvin to the Kings for a combination of players and draft picks. It still isn’t out of the question that any one of the three or all three could still end up in Los Angeles.