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. 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 failed Thursday night as they lost 3-1 in front of 16,544.

``It's a special game, no doubt,'' Murray said. ``I still have a lot of friends there. People say, `How do you feel about beating the Kings?' I probably don't feel as good as I would about beating other teams.''

The Kings had another crisis in goal, as Barry Brust started and didn't make it through the first period. The Kings signed veteran Sean Burke off waivers and Burke soon will be the Kings' No. 1 goalie.

After the game, Kings coach Marc Crawford said Brust would be returned to the American Hockey League, Yutaka Fukufuji would stay and Burke, age 39, would start when Crawford felt he was ready.

``If nothing else,'' Crawford said, ``it will give the guys a lot of confidence to play in front of someone with that kind of experience.''

The Blues had no such problems in goal, as Manny Legace stopped 34 of 35 shots and the Blues continued their strong roll under Murray.

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

In the first period, the Kings thanked Murray on the video board and the fans responded with a nice ovation, but Murray, true to his nature, was giving instructions to players.

``He had a lot of memories here, but now he's trying to start a new tradition for us,'' forward Dallas Drake said. ``We all knew, deep down, that this (game) meant a lot to him.''

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.

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.

Notes: Before the game, the Kings claimed Burke 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.

Burke has not played a NHL game this season and has a 4.52goals-against average in nine games in the AHL.

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Photo:

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

Matt Sayles/Associated Press