Blues Snap Skid With 3-2 Win Over Kings

[March 05, 2008]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Ryan Johnson scored his fifth goal of the season as the St. Louis Blues snapped a six-game skid with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night.

The Blues had gone 0-5-1 in their previous six games, scoring only four goals in that span. But they handed the Kings their fifth straight loss and seventh in eight games.

St. Louis also got goals from Andy McDonald and Keith Tkachuk. Manny Legace stopped 31 shots for the victory.

The Kings got goals from Alexander Frolov and Dustin Brown. They had a chance to tie the game late with a 6-on-3 manpower advantage after pulling the goalie for a sixth attacker, but couldn't get the equalizer.

Johnson gave the Blues their decisive goal when Jamal Mayers sprung him loose along the right wing with a tip-in pass. Johnson got the puck past a sliding Anze Kopitar and beat goaltender Erik Ersberg between the pads with 6:54 to play in the game.

Brown gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead 4:02 into the second period, snapping a shot from the left circle that squirted past Legace at the near post.

Tkachuk answered with his 21st of the season and 494th of his career when he converted a 2-on-1 break. Tkachuk and David Perron raced in against a Kings defenseman and Tkachuk kept the puck to beat Ersberg with a high wrist shot to tie the game 2-2.

McDonald quickly gave the Blues a 1-0 lead when he banged home Paul Kariya's centering feed just 1:40 into the game, McDonald's 13th goal of the season.

The Kings tied it as Frolov collected a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Legace with 47.4 seconds to play in the opening period for his 20th of the season and fifth goal in three games against St. Louis this season.

Notes: A heavy snowstorm kept many of the announced crowd of 14,973 away from Scottrade Center. There were roughly half as many fans in attendance. The St. Louis metropolitan area got anywhere from 8 to 12 inches of snow throughout the day Tuesday. ... The Blues will hit the road for a nine-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Detroit. The trip will also take them to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, San Jose, Anaheim, Montreal, Ottawa and Chicago. ... The last Kings victory was 5-1 at home against the Blues on Feb. 21. The Kings have also lost six straight road games. ... Frolov had a hat trick in the teams' last meeting.

[Associated Press]

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