Preview: Blues at Kings

[January 12, 2017]  St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock is hoping to find a safe haven away from the Gateway City, a peculiar stance considering his team's considerable struggles on the road. With a 5-10-1 mark away from the Scottrade Center, the Blues begin a three-game, four-day road trip through the Golden State on Thursday when they visit the Los Angeles Kings.

"I look at it from a road trip standpoint, first it will be really good to get on the road," Hitchcock said Wednesday of playing 12 of their next 19 games away from home. "We're too comfortable at home right now, there's too many distractions, there's too many guys that have lost their focus because we've spent so much time at home, it's gotten too comfortable. Now we're going to go into some really uncomfortable barns and have to collect points." While St. Louis has alternated wins and losses over their last nine games, Los Angeles fell for the seventh time in 11 outings (4-5-2) and second in three contests on its seven-game homestand with a 6-4 setback to Dallas.

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, Sportsnet360, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), FSN West (Los Angeles)

ABOUT THE BLUES (21-15-5): Jake Allen turned aside all 27 shots he faced in a 1-0 overtime win over Los Angeles on Oct. 29, but has drawn Hitchcock's ire of late after being pulled in three of his last five outings - including surrendering three goals on 11 shots in Tuesday's 5-3 setback to Boston. "He's not stopping the puck right now,” said Hitchcock, who steadfastly refused to name his starting goaltender for Thursday's tilt. "Probably some of it is confidence, for him it is the first time that things have not gone smoothly in his career, he's going to have to battle like the rest of us. We can help out too by playing better in front of him." Carter Hutton turned aside 26 of 27 shots he faced versus the Bruins, but is winless in six appearances on the road this season (0-3-0, 3.81 goals-against average).

 ABOUT THE KINGS (20-17-4): Coach Darryl Sutter wasn't interested in heaping additional blame after defensemen Alec Martinez and Jake Muzzin were saddled with gaudy minus-5 and minus-4 ratings, respectively, against the Stars. "It was not just a Muzzin-Marty contribution," Sutter said. "They scored five goals on us. One was a faceoff goal, all the other four were all possession plays. The last goal, the winning goal they scored, our goalie had the puck, gave 'em an empty net. It's not necessarily on them." While Muzzin owns a minus-12 rating and Martinez a minus-8 this season, fellow blue-liners Drew Doughty and Derek Forbort find themselves on the positive side of things with a plus-4 ratings.

OVERTIME

1. St. Louis LW Jaden Schwartz, who ended a six-game point drought with an assist Tuesday, scored the overtime goal versus Los Angeles in the first encounter.

2. The Kings have scored five power-play goals in the last five contests after going 2-for-19 in their previous nine.

3. Blues D Robert Bortuzzo is expected to draw into the lineup Thursday, ending a 16-game absence with a lower-body injury.

PREDICTION: Kings 2, Blues 1

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