October 24 Rapid Reaction: Blues 5, Kings 2

Todd McLellan, on measuring up against the Stanley Cup champions:
Well, there are a lot of stories within the game. Obviously, the special teams, you know I’m going to answer that question. We were drilled on the penalty kill, our power play wasn’t sharp. But more importantly for me, it was above and beyond structure tonight. I though they were just harder. They stripped pucks, they won battles and small area gains that we didn’t win, they were always ahead of us. They got us tired and hemmed in our zone. So, a lot of it for me was the physicality in small areas that we just weren’t very good in. I expect our guys to be a little bit better. We have some guys that play that type of game that really didn’t perform very well tonight.

McLellan, on the aspects of the St. Louis power play that overwhelmed the Kings:
Well, they killed us in basically three different areas. One was the rebound, it was almost a hope play to the netfront, that was the first one. We got beat on an entry, they made a really nice play, but we were in position. We just weren’t paying attention. And then obviously the third one, we got into a battle, and it’s one of those situations I’m talking about. On the half-wall where they strip the puck out, they were able to attack. So, three different areas. It wasn’t anything they did special other than win the puck in those spots and made us pay.

McLellan, on whether Nikolai Prokhorkin could get into a game on the trip:
Yeah. Anybody that’s on the trip we anticipate using. So, yeah.

Trevor Lewis, on the penalty kill challenges:
They did a good job at just kind of shooting tonight. They shot and got pucks back. We’ve just got to have the clears while we can. I think we’ve been doing a better job on faceoffs, but I think the main thing is just staying out of the box more.

Lewis, on any correlation on penalty killing struggles:
I kind of forget – the one Petro had, I didn’t really see what happened. I just saw him get a shot and I think Carts tipped it, too. Stuff’s going to happen. They’ve got one more guy than us. I mean, we’re going to get scored on sometimes. I thought we’ve done a good job of paying more attention to detail, and the past few games, we’ve been good at getting faceoff wins and getting clears and getting fresh guys out, but when guys have to kill off a lot of penalties, it makes guys tired, too. So I think the biggest thing is just staying out of the box.

Lewis, on using the game as a “measuring stick”:
They have what we want. Everyone wants to beat them and give them our A game, and obviously they did a good job against us tonight, and I don’t think we were as sharp as we needed to be. [Reporter: You guys know how that feels.] Yeah, definitely. Coming off winning, everyone’s gunning for you. We really wanted this one tonight, and unfortunately we had a few sloppy mistakes that led to zone time and led to goals.

Kyle Clifford, on how he’d grade the team’s overall performance:
There are some good things and then there are some areas we’ve got to clean up. We got running around in our D-zone a little bit, and I think communication goes a long way. You work back for your D partners, and they work for you. Some minor things.

Clifford, on what he saw from the scrum with Jordan Binnington, and what Binnington said to him:
I don’t know what he was doing. He’s a mute, didn’t say a word.

Clifford, on opening up the third period with a good purpose:
We talked about it in the second intermission. We wanted to come out and we wanted to win the game. That’s why we’re playing. We had some power plays to put the puck in the net. We had some chances five-on-five, so we’ve got to bear down and obviously capitalize on that because it makes a difference.


Postgame Video

Postgame Notes

— With the loss, Los Angeles fell to 78-102-26 all-time against St. Louis, a record that includes a road mark of 29-62-12. These teams have two games remaining, December 23 at Staples Center and March 27 at Enterprise Center.

— With the loss, the Kings fell to 4-4-0 against the Western Conference, 2-1-0 against the Central Division, 2-4 in games decided by three or more goals, 3-1-0 when scoring first. 1-2-0 when tied after the first period, 0-5-0 when trailing after the second period and 0-1-0 when shots on goal are even. Thursday’s game was the first time this season they did not out-shoot their opponent.

— St. Louis out-shot Los Angeles 16-12 in the first period, marking the first time this season L.A. has been out-shot in a first period this season.

— By allowing two third period goals, the Kings have now been outscored 16-8 in third periods this season.

— Los Angeles has outscored opponents 23-22 in five-on-five play but has registered only three goals in 5×4 situations, whereas their opponents have registered 11 in 5×4 situations.

— By assisting on Alex Iafallo’s goal, Anze Kopitar registered his 899th career point (316-583=899).

— The Kings registered 44 shot attempts (35 on goal, 4 blocked, 5 missed). The Blues registered 69 shot attempts (35 on goal, 19 blocked, 14 missed). Justin Faulk led all skaters with six shots on goal, while Ben Hutton finished with a team-high five.

— Los Angeles won 24-of-47 faceoffs (51%). Adrian Kempe won 2-of-5, Michael Amadio won 6-of-11, Anze Kopitar won 10-of-16, Alex Iafallo won 0-of-1, Trevor Lewis won 2-of-7, Blake Lizotte won 2-of-2 and Jeff Carter won 2-of-5.

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