Blues beat Kings for fifth straight win
LOS ANGELES -- Magnus Paajarvi scored the decisive power-play goal and Jake Allen stopped 38 shots as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 Monday.
The Blues (36-27-5) won their fifth straight game and extended their lead over the Kings to five points for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Los Angeles (33-29-6) had a two-game winning streak snapped. Dustin Brown registered the Kings' lone goal and Jonathan Quick made 23 saves.
Alexander Steen added an empty-net goal at 19:53 of the third period to close out the scoring, with an assist from Alex Pietrangelo.
With Quick pulled for an extra skater, Brown converted a rebound for his 11th goal of the season to narrow the margin to 2-1 at 17:05 of the third period. Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar had assists on that goal.
St. Louis had taken a 2-0 lead on Paajarvi's fifth goal of the season at 1:10 of the third period. With Los Angeles' Jeff Carter in the box for holding, Paajarvi got credit for the score after Patrik Berglund's rebound try of his own initial shot deflected off Paajarvi and past Quick.
The Blues took a 1-0 lead on David Perron's 14th goal of the season at 13:47 of the second period. Perron took an errant pass by Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin and worked a give and go with Steen. Quick stopped Perron's initial attempt but the puck remained loose in the crease for the winger to shovel into the net.
NOTES: St. Louis scratched C Jori Lehtera, D Jordan Schmaltz, RW Nail Yakupov and LW Zach Sanford. ... C Paul Stastny and D Colton Parayko returned to the Blues lineup after missing the 4-3 victory over the Islanders on Saturday. Stastny appeared in his 200th game as a Blue. ... The Blues continue a five-game road trip on Wednesday against the Anaheim Ducks. ... Los Angeles did not dress C Nick Shore, D Kevin Gravel and C Jordan Nolan. ... Los Angeles RW Tyler Toffoli continues to struggle after returning from a lower body injury. He has failed to score a goal in seven straight games and has scored only four goals in 17 games since returning to the lineup on Feb. 4. ... The Kings face the Arizona Coyotes tomorrow, the sixth contest of a seven-game home stand. Los Angeles has played six sets of back-to-back games this season and have a 3-2-1 record in the second game of the pairs.