Instead of being forced to play three games in four days, the Kings got a bit of extra rest. That paid off as they rode a fiery first period to a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night at Staples Center.
The Kings had three injured regulars, one more absence and a bug – not COVID-19, they emphasized – going around their dressing room. But nature intervened when heavy snowfall in Denver stranded the Kings in Colorado, causing their Monday game against St. Louis to be postponed. The Blues, who were 10-2-2 on the road (second in the points and points percentage) before Wednesday, were awaiting the Kings when they returned. The Kings improved to 5-1-1 against St. Louis, which has lost five straight.
“The Colorado trip was hard on us,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “A lot of things happened on that trip with illness, the storm, us not playing very well in Game 1, having to react in Game 2, playing a little bit better but still losing both games, and then spending that extra day didn’t help.”
McLellan praised his leadership group, which organized a brief skate Tuesday despite it being a scheduled day off, and said his team has risen to St. Louis’ level more often than not this season.
Defenseman Drew Doughty, winger Carl Grundstrom and forward Trevor Moore, who also had an assist, scored goals for the Kings. Anze Kopitar had an empty-net goal that traveled the length of the ice and an assist. Forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who played his first game since Feb. 18, contributed two assists.
Cal Petersen, who faced nearly 90 shots over two games in Colorado, also got a bit of a breather, facing a more modest total of 20 shots and chipping in with an assist. Jonathan Quick was available to back up Petersen, having recovered from an upper-body injury during the break, while defenseman Olli Maatta exited COVID-19 protocol and skated alongside Sean Walker on Wednesday.
Winger Mike Hoffman tallied for St. Louis. Jordan Binnington started in goal for the Blues, and he allowed three first-period goals that left St. Louis looking up at the Kings all night.
The Kings got going with a power-play goal and a simple recipe: pass, shoot, recover, pass, shoot. With eight players around the net, the Kings dug the puck out of a crowd. Kopitar moved the puck high to an open Doughty, who made no mistake with a shot from between the tops of the faceoff circles.
It was his seventh goal of the season and the Kings’ 26th man-advantage goal in only 28 games. Kopitar’s assist was his 20th power-play point of the season, second-most in the NHL.
A mere 58 seconds later, the Kings’ workman-like line of Moore, Grundstrom and Anderson-Dolan donned their hard hats. A puck that glanced off Grundstrom’s leg and into the corner was centered by his linemates, before he swept it home with a diving effort to end his 14-game goal drought.
“Sometimes things work with combinations of players … they complement each other, they have a tenacity yet a calmness to them that allows them to keep plays alive,” McLellan said, praising the trio’s conditioning on a night when they played more even-strength minutes than any other Kings line.
Their goal prompted a St. Louis timeout just 4:19 into the game.
“Whoever has the best start is usually coming out on top … there was definitely an emphasis from Todd and the coaches to have a quick start,” Anderson-Dolan said.
The timeout settled the Blues to an extent, but it did not prevent a third goal. Again it was the swift, industrious trio converting for the Kings. Anderson-Dolan skated in a hook pattern toward the net before his cross-crease pass banked in off Moore’s skate with 5:49 left in the first period.
Anderson-Dolan now has seven points in as many games this season, and the Kings have won four straight games with him in the lineup.
“I try to focus on what I can control, and that’s how hard you’re working and the details in your game. Tonight the points were there but I didn’t play as well as I wanted to,” Anderson-Dolan said.
There was a frightening instant in the first period when St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug checked Kopitar along the boards. Kopitar’s shoulder struck the glass and his head hit the stanchion. Kopitar did not miss a shift. Krug later fought with winger Andreas Athanasiou in the second period.
The Kings took their first penalty of the game at its midway mark. The Blues had the fifth-ranked power play on the road going into the game and had scored on nine of their previous 22 man-advantage opportunities. But the Kings killed the penalty with aplomb.
It was during a delayed penalty that the Blues got on the board. Hoffman curled toward the blue line and flung the puck through a four-man screen of two Blues and two Kings. Hoffman’s eighth goal of the year with under four minutes to play in the second stanza gave St. Louis some life.
After out-shooting the Blues 9-3 in the first period, the Kings absorbed more of the play in the second. St. Louis had an 11-7 edge in shots and inverted the scoring chances-for percentage from the first period.
The Kings did not allow much of a final push from St. Louis. With 5:30 left, Petersen made an authoritative glove save on defenseman Justin Faulk while fighting hard through a screen by forward David Perron.
The Blues pulled Binnington with 3:45 left to play. But St. Louis was largely limited to perimeter passes and shot attempts.
Kopitar was against the end boards of the defensive zone, but rather than icing the puck he iced the game when his long, high, backhanded flip of the puck ended up in the net for a nearly 200-foot goal with 1:40 left.
PASSING WAYNE
Doughty’s power-play goal was his 64th, passing Wayne Gretzky for ninth place in franchise history. Doughty has played 408 more games for the Kings than The Great One.
POWER PLAY GOAL DREW DOUGHTY
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GRUNDSTROM BURIES IT
2-0 @LAKings
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SCORE BY MOORE
Feeling the luck at Staples
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Hear from Todd McLellan as he wraps up the night at Staples
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WELCOME BACK JAD
@JimFox19 catches up with Jaret Anderson-Dolan postgame
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From a distance! pic.twitter.com/FmV7JpIdCR
— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 18, 2021
“I thought our line was feelin’ it tonight”
Trevor Moore chats with the media after tonight’s big win
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— FOX Sports West (@FoxSportsWest) March 18, 2021
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