Banged-Up Kings Bang Out Close Victory : Hockey: Hrudey prevails against 39 shots in 4-3 victory over Blackhawks despite injuries.

They started the game with five defensemen and finished with four. Their only center seemingly capable of winning a draw missed the third period after twisting his left knee after stepping on a rut in the ice.

It seemed like another disaster, but the Kings managed to go against form Thursday, defeating the Blackhawks, 4-3, in their United Center debut before a crowd of 21,356.

Adversity was finally a motivator. Actually goaltender Kelly Hrudey was the main reason the Kings held firm as he faced 39 shots on goal and stopped a third-period penalty shot by forward Dirk Graham at 3:21.

It was the Kings’ first victory in four games and second victory in nine. They had been outscored, 14-7, in two embarrassing losses to Chicago at the Forum.

“Kelly outplayed their goaltender,” King Coach Barry Melrose said. “Tonight Kelly was very good and that’s how you win. . . . We didn’t beat ourselves. The other two times (against Chicago), we beat ourselves.”

In fact, Hrudey outplayed two Blackhawk goaltenders. Starter Ed Belfour was unusually shaky, allowing three goals on 13 shots before being replaced by Jeff Hackett for the final two periods.

“It was inconsistent play in the first period,” Chicago Coach Darryl Sutter said. “Maybe we got cocky or complacent and forgot we were playing a desperate hockey team.”

The Kings were led by Rick Tocchet, who scored his 11th goal of the season when the puck glanced off his shin out front, at 18:56 of the first period, to give the Kings a 3-1 lead. Tocchet added an assist and forward Dan Quinn also had two points on one goal and one assist. The other King goals were scored by forwards Pat Conacher (fourth of the season) and Eric Lacroix (third).

Lacroix’s goal came at 6:26 of the second and it gave the Kings a 4-1 cushion once their players started dropping. Defenseman Denis Tsygurov watched from the press box with his face full of stitches after he was hit with a puck off a shot from rookie enforcer Matt Johnson at practice on Wednesday.

“Two hours in the hospital,” said Tsygurov, questionable for Saturday’s game against Winnipeg. “It feels sore.”

So the Kings went with five defensemen and 13 forwards. The defensive corps was further depleted when Rob Cowie suffered a charley horse in the first period and left the game.

Then center Kevin Todd hurt his knee.

Thus the Kings were without their best faceoff man for the third and an extra burden was placed upon defensemen Marty McSorley, Rob Blake, Darryl Sydor and Michel Petit. The Blackhawks chipped away with two goals by Tony Amonte but were unable to get the equalizer, even when Hackett was pulled for an extra attacker in the final 30 seconds.

Sydor said afterward that he wasn’t tired. “It’s a great feeling, for now,” he said. “It’s funny when you have four D, you don’t realize how tired you are or you don’t have time to think about your last mistake. We were lucky to have a lead.”

Melrose, whose team is now 4-3-2 on the road, was asked if his defensemen would get a day off today.

“Nobody gets a day off, not when you have 16 points,” he said.

Hrudey, too, cautioned that the Kings can’t get too excited over a victory against the Blackhawks. “It’s a huge step but what we have to guard against is a letdown,” he said. “It seems we do this, rise to the occasion and flop right back on our face.”