LOS ANGELES—A late rush from the blues left them in the red. Two goals from Kevin Shattenkirk and Vladimir Tarasenko were not enough to bypass the Los Angeles Kings’ three unanswered holding a 3-2 victory at the Staples Center Monday night. Tyler Toffoli scored two straight, to put the Kings within a pebble’s throw of overtaking Anaheim in the Pacific Division standings.
The Kings ran the opening period outshooting the Blues 13-9, but didn’t start the game on the right foot. LA gave St. Louis their first power play 18 seconds in with Anze Kopitar taking a holding call. Luckily the Kings PK unit was ready for action knocking down the Blues chance for the initial lead. That point came for Kings sharpshooter Jarret Stoll who sent a wrister near the faceoff circle gaining his third goal of the season and putting Los Angeles on top. Toffoli scored the first of two at 16:13 where he caught the rebound off Drew Doughty’s shot that went off the post. He took the chance to beat St. Louis netminder Jaroslav Halak for a 2-0 margin.
The second period saw the Blues evening up the opportunities on the extra man, as the Kings took their third try on the power play that wasn’t changing the motion of the game. Toffoli responded six seconds after the expiration of the PP where Mike Richards drive from the far end caught him at center to score his sixth of the season. Toffoli added his second multipoint game this season dating back to November 9 where he scored 3 goals againstVancouver.
The Kings offense disappeared in the third giving the Blues a chance at an upset. It began late in the period with Shattenkirk scoring his second on a wrister from the opposite end, where Terasenko sent him a pass in front of the net.
The Russian would also add his name to the score sheet with his ninth of the season on a tip in from Shattenkirk that went through the legs of Kings Goalie Ben Scrivens with 16 seconds left. Chances for overtime were slight in the Blues favor as they pulled Halak in the final seconds, but the Kings made key fore-checks and blocked shots to hold the victory.
Scrivens made up for the disastrous mistake against Calgary on Saturday winning his seventh of the season making 25 saves. Halak saw only his fourth loss with 20 saves in a game that barely takes notice away from his 14 wins this season.
