Heinze Gives Kings a Touch of Luc

Rekindling memories of their magical spring playoff run, the Kings kept battling back Thursday night and pulled out an improbable 6-5 victory over the St. Louis Blues in front of 19,565 at the Savvis Center.

The Kings, avoiding what could have been their worst start to a season since 1994-95, didn’t play particularly well but played with incredible determination, overcoming deficits of 2-0, 3-1, 4-2 and 5-4. They scored four goals in the last 15 minutes 15 seconds.

Steve Heinze, who wasn’t around last season but was signed in the summer to a three-year, $6-million contract to replace Luc Robitaille, scored the winner, his second goal of the game, with 37 seconds to play.

His backhand shot from the slot capped an emotional night.

It was the Blues’ home opener, on the one-month anniversary of the terrorist attacks, and the Blues pulled out all the stops in a heartland celebration of hockey and America that also served as a remembrance of those killed.

Red, white and blue neon glow sticks were handed out to the fans, who waved them wildly during a rousing rendition of the national anthem and again when country singer Lee Greenwood walked out to center ice at the start of the first intermission and belted out his award-winning hit, “God Bless the USA.”

A representative of the World Bird Sanctuary even brought a bald eagle, which drew loud cheers when it was shown on the video boards.

In the end, though, all that was secondary to the Kings, who won for the first time after opening the season with a tie and two losses.

“It’s definitely not the way you want to win a game,” Heinze said, “but we’ll take it any way we can, especially being the first of the season. The guys played well and didn’t quit and that’s always a good sign for any team....

“When you start getting losses and ties piling up, you’ve got to get the monkey off your back, and to do it that way shows that we’re in every game.”

The Kings seemed out of it early, Keith Tkachuk scoring on a rebound for the Blues on the game’s first shift and Pavol Demitra scoring on a breakaway at 5:02 of the first period to make the score 2-0.

The score was 3-1 at the end of the first period and the Blues, also searching for their first victory after two ties, held a 4-2 lead early in the third.

Goals by Adam Deadmarsh and Kelly Buchberger in the first eight minutes of the third period pulled the Kings even for the first time since the game’s first minute, but the Blues took the lead again on a goal by Alexander Khavanov at 9:11.

Seemingly immune to the pressure of replacing Robitaille, a future hall of famer and one of the most popular players in franchise history, Heinze continued his strong start to the season by assisting on Glen Murray’s game-tying goal, which was scored on a power play with 8:30 to play.

When Blue goaltender Brent Johnson failed to cover the puck after stopping Mathieu Schneider’s shot from the point, Heinze kept the play alive and squirted the puck out to the bottom of the right circle, where Murray pounced on it.

“I kind of whacked at it,” Heinze said. “I don’t know if it went off [Johnson’s] pad or directly from my stick to [Murray’s], but whatever, it worked out.... He had a nice open net to shoot at. That’s the way you want it.”

Bryan Smolinski set up the winner, intercepting a clearing pass from Richard Pilon and feeding a pass to Heinze in the slot. The winger’s shot seemed to carom off Blue defenseman Chris Pronger, the puck falling softly to the ice.

Heinze, who has six points in four games after scoring a career-high 54 in 79 games last season with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres, lifted a second shot over the goaltender and into the net.

Just like Robitaille used to do.

“It’s in your mind,” Heinze said of the pressure to fill Robitaille’s shoes. “You want to do well by the team and show the team you can be the guy to go to and get some big goals. It’s early, but hopefully that continues the way it’s going.”