Blues lose to Kings in OT in Tarasenko season debut

LOS ANGELES -- Adrian Kempe scored the fourth straight goal for the Los Angeles Kings at 1:45 of overtime in a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues at Staples Center on Saturday.

Kempe won it with a shot into an open net off Gabriel Vilardi's pass on a 3-on-1 rush.
Anze Kopitar had two goals and an assist for the Kings (10-8-5), who won for the first time in five games (1-2-2). Jonathan Quick made 22 saves.
It was the first win for Los Angeles after trailing by three since Dec. 18, 2014, also against St. Louis.
"Now let's face it, it's not going to happen many nights when you score four in a row against a team like that and come back, but we were fortunate tonight to regain our game and that allowed us a chance," Kings coach Todd McLellan said.

David Perron had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to six games for the Blues (14-8-3), who were coming off a 3-2 overtime victory against the Kings on Friday and had their four-game winning streak end. Jordan Binnington made 30 saves.
"We were doing a good job, but it happens in this league," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "It's unfortunate we let it slip away, for sure, but we got a point."
Vladimir Tarasenko made his season debut for the Blues, playing his first regular-season game since Oct. 24, 2019, against the Kings, when he sustained a shoulder injury that required surgery. The forward was minus-2 with four shots on goal in 16:25.
"I feel nice," Tarasenko said. "It's always bad when you come back from a long time [off] and you lose, but it was some time to rethink everything in this life. It's a privilege to be in the locker room, be able to play. I missed that, and nice to be out there with the guys again, feel that atmosphere, feel the game."

Kopitar cut the St. Louis lead to 3-1 at 13:08 of the first period on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.
He made it 3-2 at 18:09 of the second period with a one-timer from the right circle on a power play.
Matt Luff tied it 3-3 with 11 seconds remaining in the second on a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Kopitar.
"No one man does it by himself, but when your top player or players decide that they got to reel a game back in and do it the right way, it's real easy to follow," McLellan said of Kopitar. "When the alpha decides to play the right way, everybody else follows, and that's tremendous leadership shown by him and a few others tonight."

Kopitar is on pace for his second NHL season averaging more than one point per game with 28 points (six goals, 22 assists) through 23 games. He scored 92 points (35 goals, 57 assists) in 82 games in 2017-18.
"Maybe he's getting a few more scoring chances, maybe he's being able to bury them or set a few more people up because of the type of group around us, but he's about as consistent a player as I've been around in my 20, 25 years of pro hockey," McLellan said.
The Blues scored three goals in the opening 11:05, including Perron's one-timer off a pass from Brayden Schenn on the rush 25 seconds into the game to make it 1-0.

Nathan Walker made it 2-0 at 4:38, tapping in Sammy Blais' pass at the right post on the rush for his first goal of the season.
Ryan O'Reilly scored on a power play to make it 3-0 at 11:05 when he quickly tapped in a shot from the slot off Schenn's pass from the goal line to the right of the net.
"Obviously, we would have liked to have two [points], but you got to be able to try to close those games out," Schenn said. "But at the end of the day, I guess we'll take a point."
NOTES: Kopitar has two goals and five assists during a four-game point streak. … The Kings have allowed the first goal in 15 of their 23 games (3-7-5). ... Tarasenko played four games in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs in August before he had surgery Sept. 17, the third on his left shoulder since April 2018. ... Perron scored three goals in the two-game set against Los Angeles. He has eight points (four goals, four assists) during his streak. … Schenn has two goals and four assists during a five-game point streak.