FINAL – Kings 1, Blues 3 – Spence, Hiller

The LA Kings began a three-game roadtrip with a 3-1 loss against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday evening at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Kings controlled the bulk of the scoring chances in the opening period but the Blues scored the lone goal from the first 20 minutes, taking a one-goal lead into the first intermission. Forward Alexey Toropchenko snagged a pass from defenseman Nick Leddy, worked his way to the top of the right-hand circle and shot through traffic, beyond a maze of sticks in front and past Kings netminder Cam Talbot for his 13th goal of the season and the 1-0 advantage.

Less than two minutes into the second period, the Blues doubled their lead through forward Jake Neighbours. Forward Zack Bolduc put a puck towards the front of the net, with defenseman Justin Faulk getting a stick on it to deflect it across the crease. Neighbours crashed the net from the opposite wing for the goal at the back post, his 21st of the season, with Bolduc collecting his first assist of 2023-24.

St. Louis added a third goal just past the halfway mark of the third period, taking a 3-0 advantage that would ultimately prove to be too much to overcome. The Blues won the puck back twice in the offensive zone, before eventually working it to defenseman Colton Parayko at the right point. Parayko fired a slap-pass towards forward Brandon Saad, stationed to the left of Talbot, with Saad redirecting the puck into the net for his 20th goal of the season.

Later in the third period, the Kings finally got on the board as Adrian Kempe ended Jordan Binnington’s shutout bid. Off an extended sequence of offensive pressure, Kempe worked his way to the top of the crease and buried a rebound from close range, off the shot of defenseman Drew Doughty, to make it 3-1. Kempe’s goal was his second from three games since returning from injury, as the visitors pulled to within two goals, where the score ended for the evening.

Hear from defenseman Jordan Spence and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Jordan Spence

Jordan Spence speaks to the media after the loss🎤@LAKings I #LAKingsLive pic.twitter.com/1nWecJKy9C

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) March 14, 2024

Jim Hiller
On his takeaways from the first period, going into the intermission down a goal
Yeah, that was disappointing because we thought we came out ready to play. We were in and around their net, I don’t know how much we tested them, but we were around, pucks were just kind of rolling past. So, we felt we’re going pretty good and then yeah, to come in down one, that’s not a great feeling, but still we were calm. We knew we were playing pretty well, we had to get one before we got it and it was too late.

On if he felt the team’s precision was lacking in the offensive zone tonight
That was it. We had lots of pucks in and around their net, I think we maybe tried to overpass in that area and the times that we did shoot and there were deflections or it just missed our stick, that’s not execution, that’s just the way the puck bounces sometimes. There were definitely opportunities to execute a little cleaner around the net [though] that we weren’t able to do.

On dropping momentum after the power paly in the first period
We have to review it, but I thought we had time with the puck on the outside and for some reason, we ended up under pressure, where we should have just skated a little bit, brought it up, got a reset and we never got to reset on the second time after Juice’s shot. That was part of the execution piece that was maybe a little bit lacking all over the ice. The effort was fine, the execution wasn’t where it needed to be.

On the team’s forechecking game tonight
The times where we got in trouble is when we dumped the puck to Binnington. They went D-Center-Out, that happened 10 times. He handles the puck really well, it’s hard to forecheck when you give the puck to the goaltender. Sometimes you’re under pressure when you’re putting it in, but it’s a skill to get it to an area where somebody, F1, can get on the puck and actually put pressure on the D. They did that very well tonight, they broke out with their goaltender extremely well.

On Alex Turcotte’s game tonight and the energy he brought up front
He was buzzing on the forecheck for sure. Again, I thought close, he had a couple close calls in and around the net. There was a few things he did that we didn’t particularly like but you know, his effort’s there. He’s working and he’s playing the type of game he needs to play to play in the league.

Notes –
– Adrian Kempe (1-0=1) scored his 21st goal of the season, extending his goal streak against St. Louis to a fifth game (6-1=7), dating back to March 4, 2023, and extending his point streak against the Blues to a seventh game (7-2=9), dating back to Nov. 3, 2021. Kempe becomes the fourth skater in franchise history to record a five-game goal streak against St. Louis, joining Charlie Simmer (5GP, 8-4=12), Luc Robitaille (5GP, 6-2=8), and Dave Taylor (6GP, 7-2=9).
– Drew Doughty (0-1=1) picked up his 28th assist of the season, extending both his assist and point streak to a fourth game (0-4=4). The helper also extends his point streak against the Blues to a sixth game (1-6=7), dating back to Oct. 31, 2022, one game shy of his longest point streak vs. St. Louis (7GP, 2-5=7; Jan. 12, 2017 – Jan. 21, 2019). Doughty becomes the fourth defenseman in NHL history to record multiple six-game point streaks against the St. Louis Blues, joining Doug Wilson (2x), Nicklas Lidstrom (2x) and Paul Coffey (2x).
– Alex Turcotte (0-1=1) recorded his third assist of the season.

The Kings are not scheduled to practice tomorrow in Chicago. The team will return to the ice for morning skate on Friday, March 15 at United Center in Chicago, before that evening’s game versus the Blackhawks.

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