Blues lose Tarasenko, still blow out Kings

[October 25, 2019]    Brayden Schenn scored twice against the team that drafted him, and the St. Louis Blues overcame a pair of deficits and the loss of a star player to defeat the visiting Los Angeles Kings 5-2 Thursday night.

Blues defenseman Vince Dunn (29) is congratulated by teammates after scoring during the first period against the Los Angeles Kings at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

The defending Stanley Cup champions rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, and played a majority of the game without star winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury.

Tarasenko, who has three goals and seven assists in 10 games, appeared to injure his left shoulder as he tried to fend off a check.

Vince Dunn, Alex Pietrangelo and Robert Thomas also scored for the Blues. Jaden Schwartz and Colton Parayko each earned two assists and goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 33 shots.

Jeff Carter and Alex Iafallo scored for the Kings and goaltender Jonathan Quick made 30 saves.

The Kings scored first off a turnover by Blues center Ryan O'Reilly when rookie Blake Lizotte found Carter unattended in front of the net. Carter lifted the puck over the sprawling Binnington with 5:01 left in the first period.

The Blues tied the game less than four minutes later on the power play, as Schwartz made a nifty behind-the-back pass through the crease to Dunn, who scored into the empty net before Quick could recover.

The Kings moved ahead 2-1 at 3:07 of the second period on Iafallo's deflection of Sean Walker's shot from the right point.

Pietrangelo tied the game with a one-timer from the high slot off David Perron's 5-on-4 feed from the right circle just past the halfway mark of the second period. Less than two minutes later Thomas put the Blues up 3-2, converting his second chance after partially fanning on his one-time attempt from point-blank range.

Zach Sanford pried the puck loose for Thomas to earn the primary assist. Sanford drew back into the Blues lineup Thursday with third-line winger Sammy Blais sidelined with a sore thumb.

The Blues pushed the lead to 4-2 with tic-tac-toe passing with the man advantage. Parayko passed the puck diagonally to Schwartz in the right circle and Schwartz fed Schenn at the left post for the tap-in.

Schenn, whom the Kings selected No. 5 overall in 2009, scored an empty-net goal with a minute to play to ice the game. He has eight goals in 10 games this season.

--Field Level Media

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