Blues battle Kings to 1-1 tie

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- If the St. Louis Blues aren't questioning the value of their $56 million makeover, others are.

After tying the Los Angeles Kings 1-1 Thursday night, the Blues remain seventh in the Western Conference, just four games over .500. The Kings are 13th and five games under.

"There are a lot of teams this year you expected more out of. It's been a funny year all around," Kings forward Steve Heinze said. "I expected us to be in first place. We've got a pretty good team in here, and I assume we're going to turn it around. St. Louis is another team like that."

During the past 11 months, the Blues have obtained two-time 50-goal scorer Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight, Mike Keane, Cory Stillman and Scott Mellanby to add leadership and skill to a team that has been a perennial postseason disappointment.

Having two of the last three Norris Trophy-winning defensemen, Al MacInnis and captain Chris Pronger, hasn't helped St. Louis make much of a statement. The Blues have failed to score more than two goals in six of their last 11 games.

"We know we can score goals here, there's no question about that," Tkachuk said. "We've just got to keep the puck out of our net, and eventually we'll start scoring. We've got too many good players here not to be scoring."

The Blues expect to extend the league's longest streak of playoff appearances to 23 years, but for struggling to mesh.

"It's an overused word, but chemistry is huge in hockey," Heinze said. "If a lot of changes brings a lot of chemistry, then it is good. If it beings a lot of dissension, it's bad. You would think Detroit would have an awful team because there are too many superstars there. But somehow, they've found a way to get chemistry."

The Blues found some of that chemistry at 4:03 of the second period. Jamal Mayers shot wide of the net, but Mellanby played the carom and set up Stillman's fourth goal.

The Kings, shut out Monday night in a 2-0 loss to Calgary, tied it 12 minutes later on a power play when Bryan Smolinski converted a rebound of a long slap shot by Jaroslav Modry.

"I was frustrated for a long time," Smolinski said after his first point in six games. "When you go that long without a point, and the team is losing, you start second-guessing yourself. So it's good to get a goal and have it mean something."

Notes: The Blues play host to the Kings on Saturday night. The only other time these 1967-68 expansion cousins had a home-and-home set was March 1971, when the Blues won 6-3 at Los Angeles and 4-3 at St. Louis. ... Modry's assist was his 11th in 10 games and 14th this season, one off his career best. But he's gone 30 games since his last goal. ... St. Louis is 7-0-3 on the road against the Kings since a 2-1 loss at the Forum in January, 1997. That doesn't include two wins in the Blues' four-game sweep in the 1998 playoffs.