The LA Kings snapped a four-game losing streak in St. Louis, as they began a five-game roadtrip with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Blues on Tuesday evening at Enterprise Center.
The first period came and went without a goal in either direction, as the teams skated into the first intermission 0-0. The best chance in the opening 20 minutes came for forward Phillip Danault, who nearly capitalized on a St. Louis defensive-zone turnover, but his deke to the backhand was denied by Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington to keep the game tied.
Inside the first two minutes of the second period, however, the Kings did take advantage of a Blues turnover to open the scoring. Forward Adrian Kempe stole the puck in the neutral zone and quickly fed forward Alex Laferriere going the other way. Laferriere moved in on Binnington, deked to the backhand and buried underneath the crossbar for his first goal of the season and the 1-0 lead.
After a very questionable tripping penalty assessed to Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, the Blues tied the game with a power-play goal. Late in the sequence, forward Robert Thomas fed defenseman Justin Faulk, moving in from the point, through the slot. Faulk got a shot on net from between the circles and beat Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper on the glove side for his first goal of the season, tying the game at one early in the third period.
After the game ended regulation tied at one, the Kings found a way to get the extra point in overtime.
After forward Andrei Kuzmenko drew a penalty with some quick stickhandling in the slot, Kempe made it a multi-point night with the game-winning goal. Skating 4-on-3 on the power play, Kempe and Fiala moved the puck at the top, switching spots while moving the puck. Kempe worked his way to the top of the right-hand circle and hammered a one-timer off a Kuzmenko pass and into the back of the net to secure the two points.
Hear from Kuemper, Laferriere and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.
Darcy Kuemper
Alex Laferriere
On the team’s performance tonight being as complete as it’s been this season
I think that was definitely the most complete game that we’ve had as of right now. Obviously, got away from us a little bit at the start of the third but I thought we rebounded really well and carried it into OT. I think that was definitely a more complete game from us.
On what he saw on his goal
I kind of fell down in the corner, so I was just trying to backcheck and then Juice made an unbelievable play in the neutral zone and was able to create that turnover. He was going to go for a breakaway but he let me have it, kind of, he passed it to me and told me I had time. I just kind of went in, made a move and luckily I went in.
On tonight being his most comfortable game playing at center
Most comfortable, for sure. I think that was definitely the one game where I felt more natural than I’m used to. It’s a hard position. I mean people get paid a lot of money to play that position and I’m not that position, but I’m trying to kind of use that in my game. It’s a hard transition, nut I mean, playing with guys like Juice and Kuzy, they make it really easy to play that position. As long as we’re in the offensive zone, you don’t have to play much as a center, so it’s pretty easy.
On tonight’s game being a building block to start a five-game trip
Yeah, it’s huge. It’s hard to win games on the road in this league, especially against teams like this. I think it shows a lot of character for our group to be able to pull that one out. Yeah, it’s just the beginning of the roadtrip that we want to end with five wins. Yeah, it’s pretty exciting.
Jim Hiller
On if tonight was the best 60 minutes of Kings hockey he’s seen this season
I would say so, yeah. I mean, there were a few parts that we didn’t like, a few turnovers in the second period, a little bit, didn’t like to give up a [power-play] goal, of course, but I didn’t think we gave them that much as far as quality. We didn’t get a lot either but we worked, we were under the goal line a little bit and got some shots from the top, which we hadn’t been doing. We’d like it to be easier than that but I don’t know, it’s way we win games, just start to finish, she’s usually a grind.
On converting on the 4-on-3 one week after not doing so in Minnesota
That’s everything, right? It doesn’t go, then you got time left on the clock, you’ve got a shootout potentially, so you can control your destiny in that moment. Just a beautiful goal. Great pass, great finish by Juice. He’s playing the top, we don’t see him over on that left flank too often anymore, but you see why he’s scored a bunch of goals from there.
On Darcy Kuemper’s performance tonight in his first game back
I thought that was a great part, a great story in the game is Darcy coming back. He only had the one practice, skated this morning a little bit and he really looked like himself. Big in the net, didn’t have much of a chance on the power-play goal. Yeah, that’s a good step for us. We feel pretty good when he’s back there.
On Corey Perry’s LA Kings debut
I thought he added a lot. You guys saw him play, I thought he was dangerous, as dangerous as anybody up front. The intangible stuff, it’s just good to have him around, he’s a winner and so that rubs off. I didn’t think I would play him [that much], I think he played close to 15 minutes tonight, running three late and he was out there. To me, it was a pretty amazing performance for the first time.
On using tonight’s win as a building block to get things moving in the right direction
Well, I hope so. And I mean, I’m glad we came out of the right side, but I think there’s been some other games, what’s that the fourth overtime game now, I think there’s been others where we’ve had a chance to get on the right side of it, but it starts the trip and that’s all it is. So, as good as that felt for us, we’ve got a couple hours to get on the plane and we’ve got to park that because we’ve dug ourselves a little hole. We’ve got to really be focused now on making this a road trip, not just one good game. That’s where our attention will turn pretty quickly.
Notes –
– Winger Adrian Kempe (1-1=2) picked up his sixth assist of the season before scoring the Kings first overtime game- winning goal of the campaign, the eighth extra-time goal of his career. Kempe tied defenseman Drew Doughty (8 OTG) for the fourth most overtime goals in Kings history. Kempe also tied six of his countrymen for the eighth most by a Swedish
player in NHL history.
– With his pair of points tonight, Kempe marks his third consecutive road game with a goal and an assist (3-3=6), dating back to Oct. 11 at Winnipeg. This is the first occasion that a Kings skater has tallied at least one goal and one assist in three consecutive road games since Derek Armstrong (4-3=7) from Nov. 30 – Dec. 14, 2006, and is just the 17th such streak in a single season in franchise history.
– Kempe now has 18 points (11-7=18) in 30 career contests with the St. Louis Blues.
– Forward Alex Laferriere (1-0=1) scored his first goal of the season in the second period of tonight’s meeting. Laferriere notched his first goal against the Blues and now has a pair of points (1-1=2) through four career visits to St. Louis.
– Forward Kevin Fiala (0-1=1) recorded his second helper of the season on Kempe’s overtime power play goal, his 25th career point against the St. Louis Blues (9-16=25) in 33 regular season games played against the Kings’ 1967 NHL expansion cousins. The helper is Fiala’s seventh career extra-time assist and his first as a member of the Kings.
– Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (0-1=1) picked up his third assist of the season with the primary set-up on Kempe’s game- decider, his second consecutive game with a point on the man advantage (0-1=1, Oct. 18 vs. CAR). This is the second overtime assist of Kuzmenko’s career (Dec. 7, 2022 at SJS, w/ VAN).
– Forward Corey Perry made his LA Kings debut tonight at Enterprise Center. Tonight’s introductory appearance in silver- and-black marked the former Hart Memorial Trophy winner’s 1,393rd career regular season game played, the 46th most in NHL history.
– Goaltender Darcy Kuemper stopped 17 of 18 shots on goal to earn his first win of the season, his 42nd regular season victory as a member of the Kings to tie Bob Janecyk for 11th most wins in franchise history.
The Kings will travel to Dallas after tonight’s game are scheduled to practice tomorrow afternoon at 1 PM in Texas.
