Kings Catch a Break Against the Blues

There are turning points and there are delaying actions.

The Kings seemed to present their cranky fans with one or the other Saturday night. A 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues at Staples Center may turn out to be a direction-altering moment for the Kings, or merely a chance to catch their breath during a steady descent.

Sean Avery, Michael Cammalleri and Eric Belanger scored third-period goals to erase a 1-0 deficit. The Kings played some defense in front of goaltender Mathieu Garon, who made 23 saves. And King fans, who spent two periods expressing their displeasure, changed their tune after their team ended a three-game losing streak.

The victory allowed the Kings to leapfrog the Vancouver Canucks into a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference with the Edmonton Oilers.

“The bottom line is we have to make a commitment these last 14 games,” said Avery, who pounced on a puck to tie the score one minute into the third period. “We can have all the meetings we want and talk about systems, but it is all [meaningless] if we don’t out-work the other team.”

The Kings turned in one period of hard work after spending the first two skating at the Blues’ level. Against this type of competition, one period was enough. The Kings crammed a game’s worth of plays into 20 minutes.

Avery nudged the Kings forward, swooping in to steal the puck just before it reached Blues’ goaltender Patrick Lalime. He then swept it into the net.

Cammalleri broke the tie three minutes later when he let loose a shot from the blue line that snaked through traffic, went off the skate of the Blues’ Kevin Dallman and into the net.

Belanger clinched the victory, when he charged the net and buried a centering pass from Avery with four minutes left, then barreled into Avery’s arms in celebration.

That seemed to be a sigh of relief for the entire team.

The Kings had been embarrassed in their two previous games and had lost four of their last five. On the flip side, the only victories they have in that time are against the Blues, who are counting the days until the end of the regular season.

The Blues seemed to clock out early Saturday, with only three shots in the third period.

“You look at the reality of the situation and we started today in eighth place,” assistant captain Craig Conroy said. “But we got to look up, not down. Aves and Cam and Bellie got big goals for us. That’s how it has to be. It doesn’t matter who is scoring goals or making plays, but someone has to do it.”

The Kings are in a position where what is happening elsewhere is affecting their situation. When Saturday began, there were five points separating the teams from sixth to 10th place.

“Obviously, these are desperate times and we need a sense urgency and we were able to find it tonight,” Coach Andy Murray said.

Only after spending two periods that had the Kings on the short end of a 1-0 score and left their fans short-tempered.

The Kings had only six shots in the first period and wasted seven power plays through two periods. They continued their recent habit of defensive gaffes, one that led to a Blues’ goal.

Dean McAmmond picked up a turnover by Conroy in the neutral zone. Mike Glumac then rocketed a shot into the net from the left faceoff circle 11:36 into the game.