ST. LOUIS — Carl Grundstrom scored twice during a four-goal second period for the Los Angeles Kings, who handed the St. Louis Blues their fifth straight loss with a 5-1 win at Enterprise Center on Monday.
Gabriel Vilardi had a goal and an assist, Kevin Fiala had three assists, and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves for the Kings (6-5-0), who have won two straight and three of four.
“It has been that way for a couple of nights,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “We’ll see what happens in Dallas (on Tuesday). We knew we’d have our hands full. Obviously, they’re not very happy with their game, just as we were a few games ago (in a 6-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday). I like the way we started, and we stuck with it. I think we checked our way to some goals, which was really important. Then down the stretch, the penalty kill came up right big. I thought ‘Quicky’ had a real good night. Overall, a real good night.”
The Blues (3-5-0) have been outscored 25-8 during their losing streak. Jordan Binnington allowed five goals on 19 shots before being replaced by Thomas Greiss, who stopped all 11 shots he faced.
“I can say it and [the fans] can see it, it’s kind of a [pathetic] effort from us the last couple games,” St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk said. “We have leads, we’re down one today going into the second period and just kind of lay an egg. There’s no reason for it. The other team’s trying to win, and if you can give them an inch, they can tell, and obviously Montreal saw it the other night (in a 7-4 loss on Saturday). They saw we sat back and didn’t want to play a hard game, and they took it over. L.A. did the same thing here.”
Vilardi gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 13:12 of the first, redirecting a backdoor cross-ice pass from Fiala near the right post during a delayed penalty.
It was Vilardi’s eighth goal of the season, which is tied for second in the NHL. Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid leads with nine.
Grundstrom made it 2-0 at 3:44 of the second with a similar goal to Vilardi. He scored near the left post off a cross-ice backdoor pass from Rasmus Kupari.
After Jordan Kyrou failed to get a shot off for St. Louis during a 3-on-0 with Ryan O’Reilly and Brayden Schenn, Anze Kopitar extended the lead to 3-0 at 5:06 when he tapped in a cross-crease pass from Vilardi.
“Well, you’ve got to take what you’re given,” McLellan said. “I think early in the year we were forcing some stuff and still getting rewarded. Tonight, we took what was there. You have to read quick and take what’s there. Our team did a better job tonight on that than we have.”
Arthur Kaliyev made it 4-0 at 7:39 after Trevor Moore poked him a rebound with one second left on a power play, and Grundstrom chased Binnington with a shot from along the left wall that made it 5-0 at 9:59.
“Had a couple of chances there, and it was nice to get two goals tonight,” Grundstrom said. “I just try to stay open. It’s always fun to score.”
Binnington has allowed 11 goals on 43 shots in his past two starts.
“I don’t need to give you a long-winded answer,” Schenn said. “It comes down to three or four things. Our compete level, our willingness to work, forecheck and winning battles, and playing D-zone. It’s kind of what it comes down to. It’s not rocket science by any means. It’s three or four things that we have to correct and correct them fast.
“You’ve got to realize how tough it is to win in this league, and I don’t think we realize that right now.”
Alexey Toropchenko scored his first of the season on a second effort to the right of the net to cut it to 5-1 at 10:42 of the second.
NOTES: Vilardi, who was playing in his 100th NHL game, has scored in four straight. … McLellan won his 100th game with the Kings. … Fiala has seven points (one goal, six assists) during a four-game point streak. … The Blues have lost five in a row for the first time since losing seven straight (0-6-1) from March 22-April 5, 2021.
