Blues extend unbeaten streak with win over Kings
ST. LOUIS -- Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko each scored a goal and assisted on another to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night in an early-season showdown of two of the hottest teams in the NHL.
The Blues pushed their unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1) and improved to 5-0-0 at home, the only team in the league that has not lost a home game this season. They also moved two points ahead of the Kings for the best record in the Western Conference.
St. Louis (10-2-1) matched the franchise record for most wins in October, set in 1997. The Kings (9-2-1) saw their three-game winning streak snapped.
Tarasenko scored the first goal of the game at 7:25 of the second period, his sixth of the season but first in six games. He converted a pass from Schwartz, who started the play by intercepting a Kings pass.
Less than three minutes later, Schwartz knocked a rebound of a shot by Brayden Schenn past goalie Jonathan Quick at 10:17, his eighth of the season. The two points for Schwartz increased his season total to 17, tying him for second all-time in October in team history, two behind Brett Hull's total in 1991.
The Kings cut the lead to 2-1 on a goal from Tanner Pearson at 13:20, but the Blues responded with a goal by Carl Gunnarsson at 16:19. Gunnarsson's goal was the 14th this season by the Blues' defensemen, the most in the league.
That two-goal advantage also did not last long, as Dustin Brown deflected a Drew Doughty shot past goalie Jake Allen 19 seconds into a penalty on Colton Parayko cut the lead to 3-2 entering the third period. It was the first power-play goal by the Kings in six games.
Allen protected the lead until Vladimir Sobotka scored into an empty-net with 1:05 to play.
Quick and Allen each stopped 26 shots.
NOTES: Kings D Drew Doughty played in his 700th career game. ... Blues C Brayden Schenn was drafted by the Kings with the fifth overall pick in 2009 but played only nine games for the team before he was traded to the Flyers in 2011. He was acquired by the Blues this summer. ... C Patrik Berglund participated in the morning skate with the Blues but is still not projected to rejoin the team until December as he recovers from a dislocated left shoulder. ... The Blues host the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night while the Kings return home to host the Toronto Maple Leafs the same night.