The LA Kings made it consecutive victories as they skated past the St. Louis Blues by a 5-4 final in the shootout on Saturday evening at Enterprise Center.
The Kings scored the only goal of the first period as forward Taylor Ward found the back of the net for the second straight game. Forwards Jeff Malott and Samuel Helenius forced a turnover along the wall and quickly turned the puck around in transition. Malott made a nice move to the inside and fed Ward in the slot, where he used a quick release to get his shot on net, past St. Louis goaltender Joel Hofer, for a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes of play.
Just 71 seconds into the second period, the Kings doubled their advantage as defenseman Brian Dumoulin scored his first goal with the organization. Forward Alex Laferriere rounded the net and banked a pass off the boards to Dumoulin at the center point, where he unloaded a one-timer, through a screen in front by forward Corey Perry, and into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.
The Blues answered back just over a minute later, however, with St. Louis forward Dalibor Dvorsky pulling the hosts back to within a goal. Attacking in transition, Dvorsky scored on a very similar play to Ward’s goal in the first period, as he gained inside positioning and used a quick release to rip a shot high on the glove side, past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper and in for his ninth goal of the season.
Skating on their third power play of the game, the Blues tied the game at two goals apiece via former Kings forward Brayden Schenn. St. Louis attacked off the rush, making two good passes to create space, before forward Pavel Buchnevich fed Schenn in the slot, where he buried from close range to tie the game 2-2 with his tenth tally of the season.
St. Louis took its first lead of the evening less than two minutes later via an individual effort from forward Jordan Kyrou. Working down the right wing, Kyrou used his speed to get around Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson before he worked his way around the net and scored on a wraparound, his tenth goal of the season, giving the Blues their first lead of the game midway through the second period.
The visitors were able to stop the bleeding shortly after Kyrou’s goal, as Laferriere got one back to tie the game at three. Perry collected the puck below the goal line and used a shifty move to work the puck to Laferriere at the netfront, where he buried at the near post for his second goal in as many games in this building and a 3-3 score.
In his first game back from an upper-body injury, forward Trevor Moore scored a massive goal midway through the third period to put the Kings back in front. After defenseman Brandt Clarke got a shot through from the right point, which was stopped, Moore was first to the rebound as he got it across the line for his sixth goal of the season and a 4-3 lead for the visitors.
With Hofer on the bench for the extra attacker, the Blues tied the game late to force overtime. A shot from defenseman Justin Faulk was kicked out by Kuemper, but the rebound went directly to Kyrou, who buried it first time, tying the game at four and forcing things into the extra session.
After overtime came and went without a goal, the Kings earned the second point via the shootout. In Round 4, Moore scored in the first round before Kuemper made his third save to seal the victory, 5-4 the final.
Hear from Moore, Laferriere and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight's victory.
