March 7 Rapid Reaction (feat. Gann Matsuda): Blues 4, Kings 0

Rapid Reaction, feat. Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty

Post-game Quotes

Willie Desjardins, on the “little resistance” St. Louis faced on their third goal:
Well, it was a 1-0 game. We hadn’t been playing real well, but we were still in it with two minutes left in the period. We gave up the one. We have a faceoff in our zone with about 20 seconds left. We did a good job and came out on it. One of our defensemen went down on the play. He’s trying to make something happen, and they just broke out four-on-two. They’re going to have an open guy, and they found him going to the net.

Desjardins, on the heavy number of odd-man rushes against:
I think we were slow. We were trying to get up on them. We were trying to go one way, and they were quick, they were turned and going the other way. They were catching us. It wasn’t a good effort on our part. That wasn’t good enough for us. They’re a good team, they play well, but that’s not good enough from us.

Kyle Clifford, on allowing a goal in the last seconds of the second period:
It’s not just on the goals. We’ve got to make it harder on them just from a complete game standpoint. It’s a full 60. It’s got to be everybody. I know it’s cliche, but it’s just too easy all around and we let our goalie hang out to dry tonight.

Clifford, on what was missing from the attack tonight:
I think we’re playing a little too individual right now. You need the structure. You want to be creative and be able to make plays, but at the same time you need support from all other four guys on the ice. It can’t just be a one man show out there. Definitely on the offensive side, we need to help each other out and on the defensive side, we need to help our goalie out.

Clifford, on whether he thought the team’s passing was off tonight:
Yeah, I think you can see the frustration starting to creep into our game. At the same time, we’ve got to be professionals and we’ve got to come prepared to make plays and it’s those little things within our game that make a big difference.

Matt Roy, on being paired with a veteran player in Dion Phaneuf:
It’s been great. Obviously I’m a new guy coming in and his presence, he’s a big physical guy, kind of helps me relax and play my game more and obviously I’ve got to have his back too. It’s been great and we’re just moving forward.

Roy, on him and Phaneuf exchanging words with Sammy Blais and Alex Steen:
It’s just hockey. D-partners, you always have each other’s back.

Roy, on what was said during the second intermission:
It was a tough goal to give up there in the last two seconds. Brownie said we can just sit and mope around or we can try and get this game because anything can happen out there, so everyone’s frustrated, but every day we come in and work hard and we just work for the next game and the next shift.

Roy, on preparing for upcoming game against Arizona:
I don’t know. I think we’re just going to try to regroup. I think we’re just going to come to practice tomorrow ready to work and try and prepare as best we can.

Post-game Notes

–With the loss, Los Angeles fell to 78-101-26 all-time against St. Louis, a record that includes a home mark of 49-39-14. The Kings won two of the three head-to-head match-ups, claiming the season series for the first time since 2014-15. This was the 19th shutout of Los Angeles by St. Louis and Jake Allen’s second shutout in 10 career appearances against the Kings.

–With the loss, Los Angeles fell to 15-17-4 against the Western Conference, 7-9-2 against the Central Division, 10-18 in games decided by three or more goals, 7-31-6 when their opponents score first, 11-14-4 when tied after one period, 1-29-2 when trailing after two periods and 15-20-6 when outshot by their opponent.

–The Kings lost by at least four goals for the 10th time this season and scored either no goals or one goal during the run of play for the 23rd time this season. They were shut out for the third time.

–Alec Martinez played his 541st career game, tying Sean O’Donnell for sixth place among defensemen on the club’s all-time list of games played.

–Los Angeles attempted 57 shots (28 on goal, 12 blocked, 17 missed), while St. Louis attempted 69 shots (32 on goal, 22 blocked, 15 missed). Tyler Toffoli and Vladimir Tarasenko tied with a game-high five shots on goal.

–The Kings won 32-of-57 faceoffs (56%). Adrian Kempe won 7-of-12, Anze Kopitar won 13-of-21, Kyle Clifford won 0-of-1, Trevor Lewis won 2-of-9, Tyler Toffoli won 1-of-1 and Jeff Carter won 9-of-13.

The Kings are scheduled to practice at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, March 8 at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo.

Post-game Highlights

–Lead photo via Adam Pantozzi/NHLI