Demitra burns his ex-team with 2 goals

LOS ANGELES -- Craig Conroy has been Pavol Demitra's teammate in two places, and he knew the Slovakian star would be revved up for his first game against the St. Louis Blues.

He just didn't know how excited.

Demitra scored twice Saturday night in the Los Angeles Kings' 5-2 victory over the Blues and seemed to be especially focused against his former teammates.

"Usually I kind of understand him, but tonight I couldn't even understand what he was saying," said Conroy, who played with Demitra in St. Louis. "I think it was Slovak. I don't know. He was pretty happy, though. It was nice to see him get a couple of goals because he played there so long."

Demitra has seven goals in 13 games this season with the Kings, who snapped a six-game skid against the Blues.

Demitra is fifth on the Blues' career list in goals, assists and points, and made the All-Star team three times in seven-plus seasons. He never could get them past the conference finals, which made him expendable.

But the Kings, who signed him as a free agent in August, are banking on his talents to get them to the next level.

"I got to play against Pavol in the minors, and I think he got nine points against us one night in Fredericton -- so I knew he was going to be a special player," Conroy said. "When he first came to St. Louis, I remember Brett Hull looking at his stick and saying, 'This is a goal-scoring stick.' And he usually doesn't say many nice things about anybody's stick. Usually, he just says, 'This is awful,' and just throws it away."

The Pacific Division-leading Kings beat the Blues for the first time since Dec. 17, 2002.

Rookie Jason LaBarbera made 29 saves. He has won all six of his starts.

Petr Cajanek and Jay McClement scored for St. Louis. The Blues played without captain Dallas Drake, who began serving a two-game suspension following his hard check on Anaheim rookie Corey Perry on Friday.

Drake was not called for a penalty, but Perry received a concussion that landed him on the injured list.

The Blues -- already missing Keith Tkachuk because of three cracked ribs, goaltender Patrick Lalime for the second straight game with a bruised left knee and defenseman Christian Backman with an injured left shoulder -- lost center Doug Weight in the second period because of concussion-like symptoms.

"They had so many quality chances," Blues goalie Reinhard Divis said. "They dump the puck and go for the score. We don't do that, and that's why we don't win games."

Demitra scored the game's final goal. He also had tied the game 2-2 late in the first period.

"I'm just glad this game is over and we won," Demitra said. "It was a weird feeling, because I played there for eight years and I knew most of the guys and the coaches and everyone. It's probably going to be worse when we go to St. Louis because I've got so many friends there."

Noteworthy

* Drake will be eligible to return next Friday when the Blues face Edmonton at St. Louis. The suspension will cost him $12,408.16 in salary.

* St. Louis recalled goaltender Curtis Sanford from Peoria of the AHL to serve as Divis' backup. But because of the NHL's 48-hour goaltender exemption rule, the Blues did not have to remove a player from their roster.