Blues Beat Kings and Catch Ducks

ST. LOUIS —  Grant Fuhr opened the door for the Kings on Thursday night when he gave up a soft goal early in the third period.

But the St. Louis Blue goaltender quickly recovered. Fuhr stopped 29 of 30 shots and the Blues were able to hold on for a much-needed 2-1 victory.

“Grant was very instrumental in our getting two points,” St. Louis Coach Joel Quenneville said. “He kept us in the game at the end.”

With the victory, the Blues leaped over Chicago and Calgary and into a tie with the Mighty Ducks for sixth place in the Western Conference.

Through the first 30 minutes, the Blues gave up only five shots, but the Kings outshot them, 26-5, from that point on.

St. Louis got second-period goals from Joe Murphy and Geoff Courtnall to take what seemed like a comfortable 2-0 lead into the third period. But the Kings halved that lead one minute into the period when Fuhr mishandled the puck behind his own net. With Fuhr tangled up with Kevin Stevens behind the goal, the puck came in front to Vitali Yachmenev and he put it in the vacant net.

“We got them back in it, so you’ve got to try and keep it there,” Fuhr said. “We need all the points we can get now.”

Brett Hull assisted on both St. Louis goals, giving him 46 points in his last 34 games.

The Kings fell to 9-24-4 on the road. They have won three games away from home in 1997, and only once since Feb. 3.