LOS ANGELES — The streak ended Saturday at Staples Center, and not even the return of Vladimir Tarasenko could help.
Riding a four-game winning streak entering the contest, all coming on the road, the St. Louis Blues couldn’t make it five, falling 4-3 in overtime to the Los Angeles Kings. It’s still a highly successful road trip, with just a return engagement Monday in San Jose remaining before the Blues head back home.
But the Kings (10-8-5) have been a tough out all season for St. Louis, now 14-8-3 for the season.
Adrian Kempe’s goal with 3 minutes left in overtime was the difference, as the Blues squandered a 3-0 lead in the opening period.
In 25 Blues games this season 19 have been decided by one goal, once you subtract empty-net goals. And Saturday’s contest was the sixth straight decided by a single goal. It has been that kind of season for the Blues, with a razor-thin difference between victory and defeat.
It didn’t take the Blues long to get going Saturday. On the first shift of the game, Brayden Schenn and David Perron raced down the ice on a 2-on-1 rush. Schenn sent it tape-to-tape, and Perron did the rest banging in his 10th goal of the season and third in this two-game set with LA.
It came just 25 seconds into play, for the Blues’ second-fastest goal of the season and the third to come in the opening minute. All three have come in California: Jordan Kyrou (20 seconds) and Zach Sanford (57 seconds) did so to start a Jan. 30 game in Anaheim.
The Blues were just warming up. Sammy Blais can do some slick skating at times and he put some of those moves on display after taking a stretch pass from Robert Bortuzzo and then faking out Tobias Bjornfot on his way to the net. Blais’ shot may, or may not, have gone in.
But just to be sure, Nathan Walker was there for the tap-in to make it 2-0 Blues at the 4:38 mark. The secondary assist marked Bortuzzo’s first point of the season. For Walker, moved down to the third line to make room for Tarasenko, it was his third NHL goal and second as a member of the Blues.
Next came the Blues’ first power play of the night when Rasmus Kupari was sent off for hooking Blais. Just 16 seconds into the power play, Schenn was stationed below the net and fed Ryan O’Reilly on the doorstep. A quick flick of the wrist sent the puck past Kings goalie Jonathan Quick and suddenly it was 3-0 Blues. It was O’Reilly’s eighth goal of the season.
In their previous three games combined against Los Angeles, the Blues had managed only three goals in regulation. Now they had three in 11 minutes.
And how about that Blues power play? O’Reilly’s goal made it at least one power-play goal in four consecutive games for the Blues and six scores in their last 10 power plays. Tarasenko, by the way, was part of the first power-play unit and was on the ice for the O’Reilly goal.
Even in the face of all those goals, Los Angeles didn’t back down. The Kings kept attacking, countering whenever possible, crashing the net. It paid off when Anze Kopitar beat a double-team near the St. Louis blue line and beat Jordan Binnington near side at the 13:08 mark to make it a 3-1 game.
Torey Krug was a little late getting over, giving Kopitar a clean look.
And the Kings kept at it in the second period with a late penalty against Walker proving costly. With 2:26 left in the second and the Blues still up 3-1, Walker was sent off for interference. Kopitar got a favorable bounce of the puck his way and had an open look back door for the power-play goal, giving him six goals for the season.
Nope, the Kings weren’t done. With just 10.4 seconds left in the period, in an even strength situation, Kopitar found Matt Luff open in close in the near slot. It was pass-goal in an instant, and just like that it was a 3-3 game.
LA got another chance to get its power play going with Mackenzie MacEachern was sent off for interference, colliding with Blake Lizotte just 3:28 into the third period. Lizotte got the worst of the contact. But 56 seconds into that power play the Kings’ Drew Doughty was penalized for cross-checking Niko Mikkola. So that led to some 4-on-4 and then 1:04 of St. Louis power play which proved uneventful.
Overall, the Kings were controlling play, getting most of the zone time and outshooting the Blues 8-2 over the first nine minutes of the third.
