Kings Win Battles but Lose Game

In less than a week, the Kings and the St. Louis Blues will play for keeps when they meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

So Thursday night’s 7-3 victory by the Blues before 12,646 at the Great Western Forum really didn’t mean much to either team. At least in theory it didn’t, after the Kings learned before the start of the second period that Colorado had defeated San Jose, ending their slim hopes of winning the Pacific Division title.

So why were the Kings fighting mad?

The reason is simple. This season, the Kings have lost three of four games against St. Louis and they haven’t defeated the Blues since Jan. 11, 1997. In going 0-5-1 against St. Louis over the span, the Kings have been outscored, 23-12.

So after falling behind by three goals and having their fans boo them after a lackluster effort in the first period, the Kings were ready to make a statement that they are not going to be postseason pushovers.

King winger Russ Courtnall’s crunching hit on St. Louis forward Scott Pellerin in front of the Blues’ bench at 9:33 of the second period got the fisticuffs started.

The Kings’ Garry Galley and Dan Bylsma squared off with the Blues’ Chris Pronger and Craig Conroy, respectively. Doug Zmolek and Ian Laperriere matched up against the Blues’ Rudy Poeschek and Pellerin.

Before the period ended, even left wing Luc Robitaille--playing in his first game since the Olympic break--got involved in a fight when he tangled with the Blues’ Jim Campbell.

“We just wanted to send them a message that they might have won the game tonight but they didn’t win the war,” Laperriere said about the game that had 43 penalties for 210 minutes. “It’s going to be a physical series. They didn’t back up and we won’t back up. It’s going to be a good series.”

In between their bouts, the Kings were dominated by the Blues, who play host to the first two games of the playoffs.

Even with No. 1 goaltender Grant Fuhr given the night off to rest a bruised right knee, the Blues played like a team ready to take advantage of the Kings’ defensive lapses.

St. Louis jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 5:47 of the first period when Pronger scored from the slot. The Blues extended their lead to 2-0 when Pierre Turgeon extended his scoring streak to 10 games with a goal from the slot after an assist from Brett Hull.

The Kings had a chance to get back into the game but their power-play unit gave up a short-handed goal at 14:56 to Conroy, who scored off an assist from Pellerin to give the Blues a 3-0 lead.

After the game’s first brawl, St. Louis did not take long to take a four-goal lead when Geoff Courtnall knocked in a rebound at 10:27 of the second period.

St. Louis goaltender Jamie McLennan lost his bid for a shutout at 11:04 when Rob Blake deflected in a pass from Craig Johnson to cut the Blues’ lead to 4-1.

Darren Turcotte made sure that the rally was short-lived by scoring the next two goals. He scored at the 18:15 mark of the second period and then added his 12th goal of the season at 3:34 of the third.

The Kings, who gave up another goal to Conroy at 13:17 to finish the Blues’ scoring, played better at the end of the game, but Nathan LaFayette’s goal at 8:25 and Matt Johnson’s at 13:37 were too little and too late.

“They played a better game than we did tonight,” said King Coach Larry Robinson, whose team was scoreless in seven power-play situations. “But, if they want to play a scrappy game--which I don’t think that they will--we have to hope that our power play is going. Our team is going to be disciplined. We don’t want to take stupid penalties like we did tonight. We have to play hard, play physical and stay out of the box.”

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THEY’VE MET THEIR MATCH

The Kings, who will play the Blues in the first round of the playoffs starting next week, have had little success against St. Louis this season. A look:

* Oct. 9: At St. Louis: Lose, 3-2

* Nov. 27: At St. Louis: Tie, 2-2

* Feb. 28: At Forum: Lose, 5-2

* April 16: At Forum: Lose, 7-3

* Record vs. St. Loui: 0-3-1

* Kings’ record: 38-32-11 (fifth in conference)

* Blues’ record: 43-29-8 (fourth in conference)