Kings 6, Blues 2

Wednesday December 18, 2002

LOS ANGELES (AP) This season hasn't exactly been built on offense by the Los Angeles Kings, who scored more than three goals for only the second time in 20 games.

Eric Belanger capped his first career hat trick with a short-handed, empty-net goal Tuesday night in a 6-2 rout of the St. Louis Blues.

The Kings, who had the league's most efficient power play last season, matched their highest-scoring effort of the season and connected a season-high three times with the man advantage.

``The Kings are pretty good on the power play and they have a lot of guys who put the puck on the net,'' Blues defenseman Al MacInnis said. ``But you can't allow a team like that to get three goals on the power play.

``It really hurts without Chris Pronger killing penalties. We knew at the beginning of the season that he was going to be out a long time, but we just have to deal with it.''

Jaroslav Modry, Bryan Smolinski and Ziggy Palffy all had power-play goals Palffy's coming during a four-minute power play after Keith Tkachuk high-sticked Dmitry Yushkevich in the face in the third period.

``Where did the six goals come from?'' Kings coach Andy Murray said. ``It's nice to see some other players score.''

Jason Allison had three assists, and Felix Potvin made 18 of his 34 saves in the third period, helping the Kings win for the fourth time in five games. Ian Laperriere and defenseman Mathieu Schneider had two assists.

``It was a great effort by everybody,'' said Belanger, a third-year center who has six goals in nine games following an 18-game drought. ``The Cat made some big saves, we got some big goals on the power play, and everybody played hard. We've got to play like this every night.''

Tkachuk and Scott Mellanby scored power-play goals for the Blues, 7-10-3 since a nine-game winning streak. MacInnis and Doug Weight each had two assists.

Belanger scored his first goal just 32 seconds into the second period, giving the Kings a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish. He got the puck from Laperriere in the right corner, skated toward the net and put a shot between goaltender Brent Johnson's left shoulder and the crossbar.

Smolinski made it 3-1 at 6:11 of the second, chipping in a rebound over Johnson's glove following Schneider's one-timer from just inside the blue line.

Belanger got his second goal on a short backhander at 17:58 of the second period after Erik Rasmussen set up Allison in the slot. Rasmussen missed the previous game because of back spasms.

Johnson was brilliant during a 5-on-3 advantage by the Kings in the first period, robbing Palffy with his glove while lying across the crease, then making point-blank saves on Smolinski and Schneider.

But two seconds after Barret Jackman's hooking penalty expired, Modry opened the scoring at 15:17 with his ninth goal one more than he had in the previous four seasons combined. It came on a 20-foot snap shot from the slot that beat Johnson high to the glove side.

``He made some great saves for us, but we let him down,'' Blues defenseman Bryce Salvador said. ``We gave them too many second and third shots, and those are tough for anyone to stop.''

St. Louis tied it less than 2{ minutes later while Brad Chartrand was off for hooking. Potvin made the save on an attempted tip-in by Tkachuk, but the rebound caromed to MacInnis, whose slap shot from the right circle was tipped in by Tkachuk for his seventh goal.< ^Notes:@ Belanger had no goals in his eight previous games against St. Louis. ... St. Louis C Pavol Demitra returned from a four-game bout with chicken pox. But LW Cory Stillman, the Blues' leading scorer, was scratched because of a sore left knee. ... Kings D Lubomir Visnovsky returned to the lineup after missing nine games with a back strain. C Derek Armstrong was placed on injured reserve because of a groin strain. ... The Kings have won their last two home games against the Blues after going 0-7-3 in the Blues' previous 10 visits to Los Angeles. ... St. Louis outshot the Kings 36-29, and 19-5 in the third period. The Blues were outshot in each of their previous 10 games.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)