BLUES ARE ONES RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

It's a shame the mugs of Jamie Storr and Grant Fuhr are indistinguishable on the ice, because behind the goaltenders' masks are the faces of their respective teams.

Storr is a product of the draft, one of four one-time Kings prospects to play for the organization this season. His visage is all angles. At 22, life is just beginning to fill out his profile.

His start Saturday for the Kings against St. Louis was his first-ever in the postseason and he brought to the task a face long on stubble and short on crow's feet as befits a team with 13 players who haven't yet celebrated their 26th birthdays.

Fuhr is a product of free agency, having signed with the Blues in the summer of 1995 after stints in Los Angeles, Buffalo, Toronto and first but not least, Edmonton, where he figured prominently in five NHL championships.

His face is full, experience having fleshed it out. The second game of the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series between the Kings and Blues was his 129th postseason appearance. At 35, Fuhr is one of 10 Blues who are on the other side of 29 and one of 25 who came to St. Louis from somewhere else.

The Kings have a dozen youngsters making their first postseason appearance. The Blues have a dozen veterans playing for new contracts.

The Kings are trying to build a contender and are confident their best days are ahead of them. The Blues have tried to buy a contender and have no illusions; they know their time to shine is now, for come July 1 core players such as Brett Hull, Al MacInnis, Steve Duchesne and Geoff Courtnall may scatter to the wind, going whichever way the money blows.

For all their differences, the two teams and their goaltenders were indiscernible after two periods of play at the Kiel Center. They headed into the final 20 minutes tied at 1, Glen Murray having answered Chris Pronger's one-timer in the first period with a rebound of a shot by Aki Berg in the second.

Storr stoically matched Fuhr save for save for 50 minutes. But with just under nine minutes to play and the Blues holding a man advantage, Mighty Ducks discard Jim Campbell pounced on a loose puck in the slot and slid a shot between Storr's pads for the decisive goal in the Blues' 2-1 win.

In collecting his 82nd career playoff win, Fuhr finished with 26 saves, one more than Storr.

After playing poorly in a five-goal loss on Thursday, the Kings played well enough in front of Storr to steal a win - and a series split - on Saturday.

But the playoffs have the heart of an assassin, killing hopes and dreams with cold, cruel strikes and bounces. So it is that instead of standing on even ground with the Blues as the series moves to the Forum for Game 3 on Monday, the Kings have fallen into a deep hole at 0-2.

As closet Blues fans emerge these next few days holding brooms, Kings fans can take solace in the fact that Stanley Cup contenders aren't built in a year.

The Blues, the choice of one national magazine to skate off with this year's title, lost to eventual-champion Detroit in the first round last year. In 1996, the year before the Red Wings sipped from the Cup, they were ousted in the Western Conference Finals by eventual-champion Colorado. And the year before the Avalanche skated with the Cup, it exited in the first round of the playoffs.

The Kings, who had the second-worst record in the conference last year at 28-43-11, helped themselves last summer without weakening their foundation. They picked up free agent Garry Galley and traded for Luc Robitaille, Jozef Stumpel and Sandy Moger. Expect general manager Dave Taylor to have another active offseason. Those, like Taylor, who need a few more pieces to complete the puzzle will have a plethora of choices; there will be roughly 70 unrestricted free agents flooding the market - including a few Blues - and a handful of others, such as Pavel Bure and Jeremy Roenick, reportedly on the trading block.

The Kings' season should be stamped an unqualified success no matter how it ends.

Their regular-season record of 38-33-11 was a sign of their progress and their inspired play Saturday advertised their potential.

Unlike on Thursday, when they looked like they were skating with their heads in the clouds, the Kings finished their checks, pounced on loose pucks, cleared rebounds in front of Storr and managed to get a few second chances against Fuhr.

To be sure, Storr had more support than did Stephane Fiset, who was benched after giving up five goals in 27 shots in the first game. Indeed, it might have been a whole new series if Kings defenseman Jan Vopat had been able to clear the puck seconds before Campbell chased it down in the slot and beat Storr. Or, if, early in the third, Fuhr hadn't gotten a piece of a shot by Murray and then turned back Nathan LaFayette from point-blank range twice shortly after that.

Whether they're built or bought, Stanley Cup contenders need luck and pluck to advance. The Kings didn't lack for the latter Saturday. With a little bit of the former, this series could get interesting yet.