Murray’s Blues start fast and defeat Kings

Andy Murray’s first game coaching against the Kings was successful.

Rookie David Backes scored his first NHL goal Thursday night, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Kings, 5-2, for their first home victory.

Murray, who coached the Kings for six seasons, evened his record at 2-2 with the Blues as Lee Stempniak added a goal and an assist.

The win was the second straight for the Blues after losing 11 in a row. St. Louis won back-to-back games in regulation for the first time this season, and improved to 1-6-1 at home.

The victory also ended the Kings’ five-game winning streak against the Blues. The last St. Louis win over Los Angeles was March 16, 2004.

Backes’ first NHL goal came on a backhand in the slot at 10:47. Backes, a second-round pick in 2003, made his debut Tuesday in Pittsburgh and had an assist.

“Keith went hard to the net and took two guys with him and left a ton of room in the slot for me,” Backes said, referring to teammate Keith Tkachuk. “[Radek] Dvorak passed it out there and I just threw it on and luckily it found the back of the net.”

The Blues took a 2-0 lead at 6:10 of the second period when Stempniak scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.

Stempniak’s shot went over the glove of Kings goalie Dan Cloutier and into the upper right corner of the net.

The Kings fell behind, 3-0, before making a surge in the third period. Anze Kopitar scored on a backhand shot at 1:40 (the fifth goal in the last five games for the 19-year-old center) and the Kings cut it to 3-2 on a power-play goal at 3:24, a rebound by Derek Armstrong.

However, St. Louis regained control on a goal by Jay McClement, and Barret Jackman added an empty-net goal with 21 seconds left.