Shattenkirk's defensive gem paid off for Blues

The St. Louis Blues lost to the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 in a shootout Thursday at Staples Center.

They can thank defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk for the one point they got out of the game against the defending Stanley Cup champions. It was Shattenkirk’s extra effort late in the second period that kept the game scoreless.

Shattenkirk, who’s in his fifth NHL season, denied Kings forward Jeff Carter on a prime scoring chance with less than a minute left in the second period.

Carter moved in behind Shattenkirk after Kings defenseman Alec Martinez stripped the defenseman of the puck near the blue line in the St. Louis zone.

Shattenkirk’s defense partner, Jay Bouwmeester, went down to the ice to try to block Kings left wing Dwight King’s subsequent cross-crease pass to Carter, but crashed into Blues goalie Brian Elliott. With his legs tangled with Bouwmeester’s, Elliott struggled in his attempt to lunge across the blue paint to stop Carter’s seemingly imminent shot on goal.

Fortunately for Shattenkirk and the Blues, who are 1-1-1 heading into their game Saturday at the Arizona Coyotes, Carter had trouble accepting King’s saucer pass and the puck popped up in the air.

As Carter was waiting for the puck to settle on the ice so he could shoot it into a nearly empty net, Shattenkirk got back into the play. He swatted the puck out of the air and into the corner with 39 seconds left in the period, denying Carter of what very likely would have been his fourth goal and a 1-0 Los Angeles lead.

Carter did score the deciding goal in the shootout to extend Los Angeles’ winning streak to three. But there’s a good chance the game never would have made it to overtime or the shootout without Shattenkirk’s hustle play.

Shattenkirk finished the game against the Kings with four hits, one block and five shots on goal in 25:35 of ice time. The 25-year-old native of New Rochelle, N.Y., has three points and is plus-2 in three games this season after he had career-highs in goals (10), power-play goals (7), assists (35), points (45) and shots on goal (188) in 2013-14.