|
Matt Luff scored his first NHL goal in the
second period and Anze Kopitar scored into an empty-net with
29.5 seconds left to secure the win.
Jake Allen made 25 saves for St. Louis, which was shut out for
the second straight game and has lost four of its past five. The
Blues came into the game 13th in league in scoring at 3.11 goals
a game.
Luff gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 8:18 of the second period.
The scoring play began with Kings forward Adrian Kempe winning a
faceoff in the Los Angeles zone. Kempe chased down the loose
puck along the wall, chipped it ahead to Carl Hagelin, who gave
it right back.
Kempe skated just past the St. Louis blue line before slightly
elevating a pass to his right over the stick of Blues defenseman
Vince Dunn and onto the blade of Luff, who lifted the puck over
Allen's glove and into the top right corner.
The Blues came in without a goal on their past 16 power plays
over five games and went 0-for-2 with the man-advantage against
the Kings.
St. Louis also came in as the second-best faceoff team in the
NHL with a win percentage of .548, but the Blues went 3-for-13
in the first period before finishing 20-for-33 (.377).
The Blues have been without three of their top 11 point scorers
the past two games, all of whom have upper-body injuries.
Alexander Steen missed his third straight game. Steen came into
Monday tied for third on the Blues with 10 points (five goals,
five assists).
Jaden Schwartz, tied for seventh on St. Louis with nine points
(two goals, seven assists), missed his second consecutive game,
and Patrick Maroon, tied for ninth with seven points (no goals,
seven assists), has missed the past three games.
--Field Level Media
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
