Kings End Blue Streak

The maddening puzzle known as the St. Louis Blues was finally solved on Saturday night.

It took two former Blues to help beat the Blues, 5-2, at the Staples Center, ending the Kings’ long losing streak to St. Louis.

Former Blues Pavol Demitra (two goals) and Craig Conroy (two assists) helped turn a one-goal deficit into an eventual three-goal lead.

There was also a key contribution of someone who never spent a day in a St. Louis uniform, King left wing Alexander Frolov, who had two goals and an assist.

The Kings had lost six consecutive games to the Blues, recording their last victory against St. Louis on Dec. 17, 2002.

If ever there was a good time to reverse that trend, the scenario on Saturday was nearly ideal.

St. Louis has yet to win a game on the road, and the Blues have lost five consecutive games overall.

The victory erased one long-term issue for the Kings and had significant short-term ramifications, coming 24 hours after Friday’s last-second meltdown, in which they gave up the game-winning goal with 3.7 seconds remaining against the San Jose Sharks.

At least one of the two former Blues had a hand in four of the Kings’ five goals.

“It was a little bit weird; I was there for so long,� said Demitra, who scored his sixth and seventh of the season.

“After I got a goal [in the first period], everything came off my shoulders and I started feeling great. It’s always nice to beat your old team.

“I had a hard time to sleep in the afternoon. It’s always exciting. I was pumped up, and Craig Conroy was there too. Every time you go on the ice you want to beat those guys and win the game. It’s so easy playing with Craig, he’s such a good defensive forward.�

Conroy noticed the difference in his teammate.

“He played there so long,� Conroy said. “Usually I can understand him but tonight I couldn’t even understand what he was saying to me. I think it was just Slovak. He was pretty happy, though. It was nice to see him get a couple of goals.

“Things have been going good for us. We’ve been getting off to some slow starts but we’ve been able to turn it around and find ways to get back into the game. We’ve got to learn to play the whole 60 minutes, especially the first five minutes. We’ve been giving up a goal in the first two, three minutes every game, so we’ve got to change that quickly.�

Saturday was no exception. The Blues scored 41 seconds into the game, on their second shot, as Petr Cajanek banked the puck in off the leg of King goaltender Jason LaBarbera.

LaBarbera, who faced 31 shots, got better as the game went along, not allowing a goal after the first period.

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The Blues lost center Doug Weight during the game because of concussion-like symptoms, and were also without their captain, Dallas Drake, who was serving the first of a two-game suspension for his illegal hit on Duck rookie Corey Perry during Friday night’s game at Anaheim.

King left wing Noah Clarke’s busy travel week continued. He was sent back to Manchester of the American Hockey League when the Kings activated left wing Jeff Cowan from injured reserve.

Cowan had been out since Oct. 6 because of a groin injury suffered against the Coyotes.