LOS ANGELES — The Kings extended their season-long chain of losses to five games, slipping against the St. Louis Blues for the second time in five days, 3-2, in a shootout on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Quinton Byfield and Trevor Moore each scored a goal for the Kings in regulation before Kevin FIala converted in the shootout. Darcy Kuemper stopped 28 shots. The Kings now sit three points behind Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division and trail first-place Vegas by nine points.
Jake Neighbours opened the scoring and Robert Thomas added a power-play goal for St. Louis. Jordan Binnington peppered several stunners, including four in overtime, into his 21-save assortment.
Neighbours added a goal in the shootout and Thomas scored the winner, creating total symmetry for the Blues in a victory that moved them within one point of the final wild-card berth in the Western Conference.
The Kings did their best to own overtime, but it belonged to Binnington. They produced a pair of superb chances for Phillip Danault, including a breakaway, and another for Byfield, who was thwarted by a lunging Binnington. Binnington would then deny Moore on a breakaway in the dying embers of OT.
The third period, particularly its last six minutes, served as something of an advertisement for a 4 Nations-style scoring system where a regulation win represents three points, as both teams appeared content to play for overtime and at least one point apiece.
The Kings settled in during the second period and were rewarded for their efforts with their first lead of the night, 14 seconds past the halfway point of the contest. Yet they found themselves back in a tie game thanks to a Blues power-play goal 47 seconds before the second intermission.
After a won faceoff, former Duck Cam Fowler moved the puck low for Pavel Buchnevich. He spotted Thomas in the inner part of the left circle, sending a pass that banked off a prone Vladislav Gavrikov and right to Thomas for an equalizer.
The Kings had pulled ahead off some extended zone time that first saw a magnificent chance for Warren Foegele in front stymied by a sliding Binnington. The Kings would recover the puck and score an unconventional goal. Mikey Anderson’s rim-around pass hit the end boards and banked toward the goal line, where Moore controlled it and, with his back to Binnington, stuffed the puck through the near post off his backhand. It was Moore’s 12th goal of the season, with half those tallies coming in his past 11 appearances.
Even for a team that didn’t spend the last two games discussing “urgency” and “desperation,” the Kings turned in a low-wattage first period, but one that was scoreless until the final 70 seconds.
Then, the two sides exchanged goals, with Neighbours striking and Byfield responding 32 seconds later.
The Kings escaped even thanks to their emergent combo of Byfield and Fiala. Byfield sauced a pass for Fiala, who dished back to Byfield. He curled above the left faceoff dot and let fly with a shot under the crossbar that was further aided by three bodies, two Blues and a King, in Binnington’s sight line. Byfield has a dozen goals this season, while he and Fiala have paced the team in scoring since Dec. 15 with 22 points apiece.
St. Louis had opened the scoring when Drew Doughty’s long pass failed to connect with Alex Turcotte, allowing Colton Parayko to send Neighbours ahead with speed. His slick stickhandling set up a rising backhand that popped over Kuemper on the short side.
More to come on this story.