Blues Beat Kings; Blake Is Benched : Hockey: Defenseman derides Melrose after sitting out the final two periods. L.A. has lost four of last five.

The Kings’ top defenseman, Rob Blake, did not take his surprising 40-minute benching quietly on Saturday night, lashing out at Coach Barry Melrose after the Kings lost, 4-1, to the Blues at the Arena before a sellout crowd of 18,068.

The Kings have lost seven of their last eight road games and are 2-8-1 on the road. Overall, the Kings have lost four of their last five games, but Blake’s confinement to the bench turned out to be the most unusual and heated development on Saturday.

Melrose benched Blake for the final two periods after the Kings fell behind, 2-0, after one period, handing out an inordinate amount of ice time to defensemen such as Brent Thompson and Doug Houda.

Blake’s biggest assignment the final two periods consisted of opening and closing one of the doors to the bench.

“He must have seen something I didn’t,” Blake said, growing more and more upset. “He was wrong tonight.

“I know when I’m not playing well and that was not the case tonight. That’s . . .”

Said Melrose: “Robbie needed a break. Rob’s one of the best young defensemen in the NHL. He’s struggling and he needed time to think about things. I’ve never seen a better place to do some thinking (than on the bench).”

Melrose indicated that some changes might be imminent.

“There’s not enough effort,” he said. “We don’t have enough guys who are committed to winning. We’ll get that straightened out. The bad people are weeding themselves out. The players are doing it themselves, which is great from a coach’s point of view.”

Blake could not have been more insistent that his benching was not deserved.

“I can accept being benched when I’m not playing well,” he said. “Tonight was not the case. The only reason I can think of is the (second) goal. I moved out of the way so (goalie) Kelly (Hrudey) could see the shot, but I moved to the wrong side. Those things happen.

“(Melrose) hasn’t said anything. I think he forgot I was there. I could tell I wasn’t going to play the rest of the game the first two shifts of the second. We were killing off a four-on-three and hardly anyone was on the bench with me. So I knew something was wrong.

“It’s embarrassing to sit there on the bench for two periods. You can’t do anything to help the team there. I guess he didn’t think I could help--that’s probably why he did it.”

Said Wayne Gretzky, who had one assist: “When you get beat and the way we’ve been getting beaten, Barry has to make a stand. Some guys end up bearing the brunt of it. The bottom line is that it’s not all Blakey’s fault. Barry could have picked any one of 10 or 11 guys. That’s what happens when you’re not winning.”

There was little chance of that happening the way the Kings played the first period, failing to get their fourth shot on goal until there was 3:35 left in the first. They were outshot, 22-5, in the first 20 minutes and trailed by 2-0 on goals by Tony Hrkac and Craig Janney.

The Kings didn’t score until the third period, when defenseman Alexei Zhitnik averted the shutout with 5:42 remaining. It was Zhitnik’s fifth goal of the season.

“It’s embarrassing--we’ve got to get things turned around before something bad happens,” King defenseman Darryl Sydor said. “Because it’s always the wrong guy that goes when these things happen.”