The LA Kings snapped a four-game losing streak in St. Louis, as they began a five-game roadtrip with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Blues on Tuesday evening at Enterprise Center.
The first period came and went without a goal in either direction, as the teams skated into the first intermission 0-0. The best chance in the opening 20 minutes came for forward Phillip Danault, who nearly capitalized on a St. Louis defensive-zone turnover, but his deke to the backhand was denied by Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington to keep the game tied.
Inside the first two minutes of the second period, however, the Kings did take advantage of a Blues turnover to open the scoring. Forward Adrian Kempe stole the puck in the neutral zone and quickly fed forward Alex Laferriere going the other way. Laferriere moved in on Binnington, deked to the backhand and buried underneath the crossbar for his first goal of the season and the 1-0 lead.
After a very questionable tripping penalty assessed to Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, the Blues tied the game with a power-play goal. Late in the sequence, forward Robert Thomas fed defenseman Justin Faulk, moving in from the point, through the slot. Faulk got a shot on net from between the circles and beat Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper on the glove side for his first goal of the season, tying the game at one early in the third period.
After the game ended regulation tied at one, the Kings found a way to get the extra point in overtime.
After forward Andrei Kuzmenko drew a penalty with some quick stickhandling in the slot, Kempe made it a multi-point night with the game-winning goal. Skating 4-on-3 on the power play, Kempe and Fiala moved the puck at the top, switching spots while moving the puck. Kempe worked his way to the top of the right-hand circle and hammered a one-timer off a Kuzmenko pass and into the back of the net to secure the two points.
