LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings won their third straight game, defeating the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in a shootout at Staples Center on Wednesday.
Adrian Kempe and Arthur Kaliyev scored, Alex Iafallo extended his point streak to four games, and Jonathan Quick made 33 saves for the Kings (4-5-1).
Los Angeles went 1-2-0 in the three-game season series against St. Louis, but Kempe said the losses at Enterprise Center on Oct. 23 and 25 gave them a blueprint for the win.
“We looked at the chances they had against us when we played there, and we minimized those, for sure,” Kempe said. “You know they’re still a good team, going to get chances, but ‘Quickie’ was standing on his head as usual. Made a good push in the third period and that got us two points.”
Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists to extend his point streak to seven games, and Jordan Binnington made 33 saves for the Blues (6-1-1), who have lost two of three after opening the season with five straight wins.
Torey Krug scored shorthanded at 19:51 of the third period, charging in with a wrist shot after the Kings failed to clear the rebound of Tarasenko’s shot to tie it 2-2 for the Blues.
“I think they came out and dictated the play in the third, and we had to scramble to tie it,” Krug said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t come through getting the extra point.”
Kings coach Todd McLellan didn’t think they did anything wrong on the sequence, pointing instead to two earlier missed chances by Anze Kopitar to score into an empty net and another by Iafallo, when St. Louis forward Robert Thomas had to take a penalty to prevent a goal.
“Even the goal, I don’t know what we would do on it,” McLellan said. “It hits ‘Quickie,’ it bounces. It goes over a few people, it goes off ‘Kopi’s’ foot, and it’s in the net. So where was the mistake made? Probably not hitting the open net.”
The Kings regrouped in overtime, which McLellan credited to being on the power play, and they outshot the Blues 8-0.
“We’re always looking for two [points],” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “I mean, we tied it up and did not have a very good overtime. Just careless with the puck, some bad reads. [Binnington] was really good in overtime.”
Kempe, Iafallo and Kaliyev scored in a four-round shootout for Los Angeles. David Perron and Jordan Kyrou scored for St. Louis.
Kempe put the Kings ahead 2-1 at 12:15 of the third period. Binnington wasn’t able to cover Iafallo’s wrist shot from close range, leaving the goal empty as Iafallo recovered the puck before passing from behind the net to Kempe in the crease for his second goal of the season.
“He stripped the puck after a scoring chance. Behind the net, stood over the puck, protected it long enough so that [Kempe] could get in the open, put it in the right spot,” McLellan said. “That’s a check for me. [Iafallo] does all of these little things.”
Kaliyev tied it 1-1 with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle at 6:16 of the third period.
The Blues took a 1-0 lead at 6:48 of the second period, scoring five seconds into a power play. Brayden Schenn was in the slot to put in the rebound after Quick knocked down Tarasenko’s slap shot on a one-timer.
NOTES: The Blues have scored six goals in three games without forward Ryan O’Reilly, who is in NHL COVID-19 protocol. … St. Louis was 5-for-10 (50 percent) on the power play in three games against Los Angeles, scoring on its only opportunity Wednesday. The Kings were 0-for-11, including 0-for-4 at home. … Kings forward Andreas Athanasiou, who sustained an upper-body injury in training camp, was activated off injured reserve Wednesday. … Krug scored the sixth-latest game-tying goal while shorthanded in NHL history. Chris Phillips of the Ottawa Senators had the fastest, 59:58 on Oct. 22, 2009 in a 6-5 OT loss to the Nashville Predators. … St. Louis forward Brandon Saad had a team-high five shots in 12:17 after missing four games in COVID-19 protocol. … Tarasenko has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) during his streak. His assist on Krug’s goal was his 453rd NHL point, passing Al MacInnis for eighth place in Blues history. David Backes is seventh with 460 points. … Perron played his 614th game to tie Barclay Plager for 11th in Blues history. … Iafallo has six points (three goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. … Los Angeles defenseman Kale Clague has an assist in three straight games.
