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Blues lose to Kings in overtime, 2-1, on power-play goal

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on

Published in Hockey

It took a couple periods, but Tuesday's 2-1 Blues loss to the Kings livened up in the third period.

Adrian Kempe scored the game-winning goal with 3:10 remaining in overtime, preventing the Blues from winning a second in a row after Pavel Buchnevich was called for hooking in overtime.

Kempe's goal came after Justin Faulk tied the game for the Blues with a power-play goal just 2:18 into the third period. Alex Laferriere scored for the Kings in the second period.

The Blues had just eight shots on goal through the first two periods, and entered the third period without a shot in nearly 16 minutes of action. But that changed quickly with Brayden Schenn and Dylan Holloway's shots in the first 27 seconds of the third. On the same shift, Philip Broberg drew a tripping penalty to put the Blues on the power play.

Robert Thomas helped win a puck battle behind the net, and then later found Faulk creeping down the middle of the ice for an open look on Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper. It was Faulk's first goal of the season, and the Blues' first on the power play since last week in Vancouver.

The Blues had the first seven shots of the third period.

The Blues will finish their home stand on Thursday night against Utah.

Trying to drive emotion

The Blues finished the second period without a shot on goal in the final 15:51 of the frame, and they were outshot 9-3 in the middle 20 minutes. But even with the lifeless offensive attack, there were some Blues trying to instill emotion into the game.

Schenn lined up Drew Doughty for a massive check in the corner. Jake Neighbours nailed Kempe along the boards in the offensive zone. Nathan Walker's shot block got the attention of his bench. Tyler Tucker fought Jeff Malott on the edge of the crease. Walker (on Doughty) and Schenn (on Kuzmenko) added another big hit to their ledger in the final two minutes of the period.

 

But even with efforts from some Blues, they weren't able to translate the hits and the blocks and the fight into anything in the offensive zone. They finished the period with just 10 shot attempts (eight at 5 on 5), according to Natural Stat Trick.

The Kings scored just 1:47 into the period when Laferriere finished a gift from Faulk. Exiting his own zone, Faulk tried to stick-handle around Kempe in the neutral zone. Instead, the puck was stuck in Kempe's skates and he quickly shoveled a pass forward to Laferriere, who finished bar-down on goalie Jordan Binnington with a backhand.

It was the third time in four home games that the Blues allowed the first goal.

Light on action

The goalless first period was highlighted by Binnington's glove save on Phillip Danault in tight after a turnover in the Blues end. Neighbours was attempting to hit Thomas coming out of the zone, but the pass instead went through Thomas' legs and found Danault at the net-front.

Danault tried a backhand, but Binnington made the nifty save.

Outside of the Danault chance, neither team generated much in the department of high-danger chances. Alex Turcotte tried to score on a rebound of Corey Perry's shot on goal, but Binnington made the save.

The Blues' penalty kill was superb, killing Faulk's interference minor without allowing a shot on goal, and only surrendering one shot attempt. Pavel Buchnevich's up-ice pressure nearly generated a scoring chance for Thomas.

The Kings outshot the Blues, 10-5, in the first period.


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