FEELING BLUE: KINGS LOSE AGAIN MURRAY WINNER IN RETURN TO L.A. ST. LOUIS 3, KINGS 1.

Byline: RICH HAMMOND  Staff Writer

Andy Murray, who paced behind the Kings' bench for sixseasons as head coach, rarely had it easy.

The Kings, under Murray, often were scrappy, injury-riddled units that had to fight for two points, but by contrast his new team, the St. Louis Blues, took a relatively leisurely stroll through Staples Center.

Murray's quest to shape the Blues into winners has been a success so far, and the Kings' attempt to climb out of last place in the Western Conference seem all for naught Thursday night as they trailed 3-1 in the third period in front of 16,544.

Fired by the Kings near the end of the last season, Murray took over for fired coach Mike Kitchen on Dec. 11. Since then, the Blues have 26 points in 19games and an 11-2-2 record since Dec. 17.

The Blues seemed destined to be cellar dwellers in the conference this season, but the Kings have replaced them. The Kings have lost five in a row and have the second-fewest points in the NHL.

Dallas Drake scored two first-period goals and the Kings suffered another crisis in goal as they awaited the arrival of veteran goalie Sean Burke, who was claimed off waivers hours before the game.

Barry Brust started and didn't make it through the end of the first period. Yutaka Fukufuji replaced him and fared slightly better, but other than a 10-minute second-period burst, the Kings didn't do much.

Meanwhile, Blues goalie Manny Legace, who spent part of the 1998-99 season with the Kings, thrived. Legace had allowed a combined nine goals in his past two starts but against the Kings on Thursday he stopped 27 of 28 shots through two periods.

The first period couldn't have been more bizarre. The Blues scored a pair of goals on deflections in front of the net and the players headed to the dressing rooms with 1:46 remaining in the period.

That's when a section of the protective glass got dislodged and the officials elected to play the rest of the period after the intermission. But when the Kings came back, they didn't have Brust.

Brust allowed the Blues' two first-period goals, both on timely deflections by Drake, and faced only 10 shots. Brust was replaced after the intermission by Fukufuji, who made his home debut.

Fukufuji, who this week became the first Japanese player to appear in a NHL game, didn't face much pressure early as the Kings turned the tide and dominated the early part of the second period.

The Kings closed to 2-1 when enforcer Raitis Ivanans scored his second goal of the season, and the Kings outshot the Blues 13-2 over the first nine minutes of the period, but it mattered not.

That's because the Blues reclaimed a two-goal lead with their third shot, when Bill Guerin took a centering pass from Martin Rucinsky and beat Fukufuji for a goal 9:30 into the period.

Also: Burke was claimed off waivers from the Tampa Bay Lighting and assigned center Marty Murray to their American Hockey League affiliate in Manchester, N.H. Burke, who turns 40 on Jan. 29, has played for eight teams since he broke into the NHL in 1987. He will compete for playing time while Dan Cloutier and Mathieu Garon are on the injured list. Burke has not appeared in a NHL game this season and has a 4.52 goals-against average in nine games in the AHL. ... Defenseman Mike Weaver returned from his AHL conditioning assignment but did not play.

[e-mail]

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

St. Louis goalie Manny Legace, left, stops a shot by theKings' Michael Cammalleri during the second period.

Matt Sayles/Associated Press