Hrudey Is Up to the Challenge : Hockey: King goalie faces barrage of shots again but beats Dallas, 3-1, with Fuhr on the bench.

One hundred thirty-five shots later, King goaltender Kelly Hrudey emerged unscathed and unbeaten in three games.

No one ever said tending goal for the Kings was easy. After facing 92 shots over the weekend, Hrudey faced 43 more in the Kings’ 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday before 16,924 at Reunion Arena.

The Kings (4-5-3) finished their four-game trip 2-0-2, and Hrudey was largely responsible after he took over in the net in the wake of last week’s collapse in St. Louis when the Kings squandered a two-goal lead in the final 61 seconds and left with a 5-5 tie.

Then came a 5-2 victory over Toronto on Saturday. He faced 43 shots.

Sunday, it was a 4-4 tie against the Detroit Red Wings and 49 more shots.

Not so coincidentally, Hrudey’s performance occurred during the rumors of and subsequent trade for goaltender Grant Fuhr from the Buffalo Sabres.

“I like to compete,” Hrudey said. “That’s always been my No. 1 quality. I like to play and I like to win. I guess it’s something I grew up with. I never give up. I just love to compete.”

Said King Coach Barry Melrose: “Kelly is a guy who stands up to the challenge. There will be a good competition between him and Grant. I told him, whoever is playing the best will play. Kelly responds to those things.”

The Kings responded to a shake-up of their defense, imposed because of groin injuries to Rob Blake and Marty McSorley and the trade of Alexei Zhitnik to the Sabres. Late in the third period, defenseman Michel Petit limped off when he re-injured his groin and forward John Druce suffered a Charley horse.

All this meant the two newest King defensemen acquired from Buffalo--Philippe Boucher and Denis Tsygurov--had plenty of ice time, as did 35-year-old veteran defenseman Tim Watters, who was called up from Phoenix on Tuesday. Boucher had four shots on goal. Tsygurov was a plus one on the plus-minus defensive scale with one shot, and he was on the ice in the final minutes with the Stars pressing for the tying goal before Pat Conacher scored an empty-netter with 19 seconds remaining.

“Muddy (Watters) is like Felix the Cat,” Melrose said. “He stabilized the kids. He helps them because he doesn’t make mistakes. Boucher likes to jump into the play, and he needs a quality defenseman playing with him.”

Said Watters: “I feel I can play here. I don’t have a problem with my role here. I’ll do what I can.”

Melrose liked seeing the two newest defensemen, especially since they are each 6 feet 3.

“I told Syd (Darryl Sydor) he will have to put lifts on his skates, he looks out of place out there,” Melrose said. “There were times last year when he was one of the biggest ones out there.”

The Kings made the most of their scoring chances, unlike the Stars. “This is the third time a goalie has come in here and stopped 40 (shots) to beat us,” Dallas goaltender Andy Moog said.

For the Kings, Druce scored his fifth goal of the season, at 14:27 of the first period, and Tony Granato scored his fourth game-winner of the season at 14:49 of the second, beating Moog with a slap shot from the top of the right circle. The shot hit defenseman Craig Ludwig and sailed over Moog’s shoulder.

“It feels good. Coming into this trip we were in a state of panic and disorder,” Granato said. “We answered our doubts, for sure. To answer those questions was something we had to do.”

Granato was wearing a black and red checkered jacket, showing a new look. Actually it was something Zhitnik used to wear and that’s why Granato sported the new jacket.

In memory of Zhitnik, who scored Wednesday in his first game for Buffalo? “In honor of . . . respect,” Granato said.

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King Notes

Defenseman Philippe Boucher on being traded from Buffalo to the Kings: “L.A. is a great place. They’ve got earthquakes, but I really don’t care about that. It’ll be a good place to play.” . . . Goaltender Grant Fuhr is used to criticism, saying: “I’d like to think I’m still capable of being the one. People have been telling me I’ve been over the hill for years. That’s nothing new. That just makes it more fun when you get to prove them wrong.”