At Last, Kings Play Solid Game : Hockey: They defeat the Canucks, 3-0, to end a seven-game winless streak. Hrudey has 43 saves.

At one end, Vancouver goaltender Kirk McLean stopped everything that came his way for 44 minutes 42 seconds. McLean’s counterpart, Kelly Hrudey, was equally as brilliant at his end.

For the first time in almost three weeks, the Kings and Hrudey didn’t blink first. Jari Kurri broke the scoreless tie at 4:42 of the third period and Hrudey made 43 saves as the Kings defeated the Canucks, 3-0, ending a seven-game winless streak.

The rare Monday afternoon game at the Forum before a sellout crowd of 16,005 turned out to be a rare Kings’ victory as they took over third place in the Smythe Division, moving past Winnipeg. The Kings and Hrudey hadn’t won since a 7-1 victory against San Jose on Jan. 26. Hrudey’s winless streak was at five games (0-4-1) and the Kings were 0-5-2 in their last seven.

“I don’t care about the shutout,” said Hrudey, who got his second of the season and 15th in his NHL career.

“I never have cared about them. We’ve begun to believe in ourselves again, which is nice. Now we’re concentrating on the next 27 games instead of the past two months. Let’s forget all this negative talk and be positive. I could care less what’s happened the last two months.”

For the Kings, the last 10 weeks have been particularly painful; they had won only five of their last 27 games before Monday. Last Saturday, the Kings’ misery reached a new low with a 10-3 loss to Washington.

On Sunday, Coach Barry Melrose made practice optional and held a 20-minute team meeting. Still, he pointed out that despite the 10-week slide, the Kings had a chance to move into third place.

“I think we’re leading the league in team meetings,” left wing Warren Rychel said. “But you can never have enough. We took a look around in the room and said, ‘Look at the players we’ve got. There’s no reason we should be losing games like this.’ ”

One game, however, is one game, no matter how impressive the effort. Several times during the slump the Kings showed positive signs, even winning two consecutive games before struggling again.

Melrose is too realistic to think the Kings have solved all their problems. For instance, Wayne Gretzky, despite numerous chances on Monday, failed to score again and has gone 16 consecutive games without a goal. Left wing Mike Donnelly hasn’t scored in 12 games.

So, was Saturday’s loss rock bottom for the Kings?

“When we lost to Montreal, we said we hit rock bottom,” Melrose said. “It seems as if this team hit rock bottom a few times. It’s like a foam bottom.”

The Kings will play the first of five games on the road Wednesday against Minnesota. Accompanying them on the trip will be goaltender Rick Knickle, 32, whom the Kings signed from the San Diego Gulls, an independent franchise in the International Hockey League.

During the All-Star break, King General Manager Nick Beverley, Melrose and assistant coach Cap Raeder watched Knickle play against Phoenix and were impressed. Knickle has never played in an NHL game.

“Hey, he’s the winningest goalie in the IHL,” Raeder said. “He’s a slick goalie who does a little of everything well. We’ll give him a game next week.”

Beverley said the Kings acquired Knickle for future considerations. Knickle was 33-4-4 in San Diego with a goals against average of 2.17 and four shutouts. Goaltender David Goverde, the luckless one in net on Saturday, was sent back to Phoenix on Monday.

Despite the arrival of Knickle, Hrudey is still the No. 1 goaltender. He reinforced that notion with his performance against Vancouver, which hadn’t been shut out since Dec. 3, 1991, against Quebec.

The Kings’ goaltending problems have become the focal point during the long losing streaks. Hrudey pointed out that it wasn’t the single factor.

“If goaltending was our (only) problem, I wouldn’t be here,” Hrudey said.

King Notes

Right wing Dave Taylor, who has sat out four consecutive games because of a recurrence of symptoms from a concussion he suffered in November, will visit a specialist today for tests. Taylor is thought to have a middle-ear problem and will have an ENG, which is a balance test.. . . Center Corey Millen, who has a strained groin, skated for the first time in three weeks said he felt fine. But he said it could be more than two weeks before he returns. . . . Jari Kurri’s third-period goal was his 520th, tying him with Bryan Trottier for 14th on the all-time list.