Hrudey Is Back With a Victory : Hockey: He wins for first time in more than a month as Kings beat Islanders, 7-4.

Home or away, it hasn’t mattered. Almost everywhere Kelly Hrudey has gone this past month or so, he has been greeted with concerned looks and treated as if he had a serious illness.

This was the annoying question: “Are you OK?”

Everyone was making Hrudey painfully aware that he had lost his job as the Kings’ No. 1 goaltender. As if he needed reminding, he sat on the bench watching Rick Knickle, 33, and Robb Stauber tend the Kings’ net.

Hrudey won his first game in more than a month Thursday night as the Kings defeated the New York Islanders, 7-4, before a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum.

Rookie defenseman Alexei Zhitnik’s slap shot from the left circle at 13:07 of the third period broke a 4-4 tie.

Hrudey’s last victory had been Feb. 17 in Minnesota. After a shaky start in a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 27, he didn’t earn another start until Thursday night.

He had been scheduled to play against Pittsburgh on the Kings’ last trip but was scratched at the last minute because of flu. Hrudey got some action on Tuesday in the third period when Knickle himself came down with flu.

The Kings (33-31-7) needed a sharp performance from Hrudey because they were drawn into a wide-open, run-and-gun game.

“Right now, we’re scoring timely goals and getting good goal-keeping,” King Coach Barry Melrose said. “We’re beat physically. It was like whipping mules 20 miles in the mud. We didn’t have anything to give. We just didn’t have anything left. Kelly was great for us. He won us the game.”

Hrudey refused to speak with reporters.

He faced 46 shots. Being involved in a tight race in the Patrick Division for the playoffs, the Islanders played like a desperate team. Behind, 4-2, in the third period, they tied the game with goals by David Volek at 5:52 and Rich Pilon at 11:53.

The Kings’ most surprising offensive star was defenseman Charlie Huddy, who had a four-point night, with one goal and three assists. He left the game with a bleeding face in the first period, after being hit between the eyes by a puck.

Huddy returned for the second period and turned into an offensive machine, picking up his second goal of the season to give the Kings a 3-1 lead.

“If you can see, if your eyes aren’t closed,” he said, “I guess you can find the goal. As long as I can see--and I didn’t have too bad a headache.”

Center Jimmy Carson scored twice and added one assist, and Luc Robitaille scored his 53rd goal of the season with 35.3 seconds remaining and added one assist.

Wayne Gretzky ran his point-scoring streak to eight games with his 11th goal of the season, at 17:20 of the third.

Robitaille has scored points in nine games in a row.

King Notes

Defenseman Darryl Sydor, who suffered a strained right shoulder against Buffalo on Monday, missed his second consecutive game. He may return to the lineup against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. . . . Right wing Dave Taylor played his second consecutive game after missing 16 in a row with recurring symptoms from a previous concussion. Thursday, he started the game on a line with left wing Lonnie Loach and center Pat Conacher and took a turn on the penalty-killing unit. . . . Center John McIntyre was scratched for the second consecutive game. . . . Defenseman Brent Thompson was sent back to the Kings’ International Hockey League affiliate at Phoenix. . . . Because the Kings’ game at Philadelphia will be made up on April 1, their next home game against the Minnesota North Stars on April 3 has been changed to 7:30 p.m. It had been scheduled for 1 p.m.