The Los Angeles Kings had a few days off since their last game on Wednesday, but when they took the ice on Saturday, it was against the same team in the St. Louis Blues. This is a team they have seen a lot recently as this was the third time playing them in their last four games.
The Kings have struggled in the previous two meetings as they would lose 4-1 in St. Louis before losing in overtime 3-2 on Wednesday. The Kings looked much better in this game and it was a defensive struggle where chances were tough to come by.
It looked like the Blues were going to take the lead early on a power play. However, the play was reviewed, and it was determined that Mikey Anderson stopped the puck from completely crossing the line, and it was waved off.
Later in the first period, the Kings would end up getting the scoring started with Anze Kopitar tipping Drew Doughty's shot to get past Joel Hofer. The Kings held that lead going into the third period before Nick Leddy beat Darcy Kuemper to tie it.
Unfortunately even with an excellent close to the third period which the Los Angeles Kings controlled, they were not able to find the net and the game would go to overtime. However, it didn't last long as Quinton Byfield would score less than 30 seconds into the extra period.
These are some of the top takeaways from the Los Angeles Kings win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Andrei Kuzmenko makes good first impression with Los Angeles Kings
Andrei Kuzmenko has yet to have a practice with the Los Angeles Kings after they traded for him yesterday afternoon. However, that didn't stop head coach Jim Hiller, and he was not only put on the Kings' top line but also their top power play unit.
The earlier returns were relatively positive as Kuzmenko played a key role in the first goal of the game. Kuzmenko helped regain the puck in the zone that was moved around and eventually resulted in a goal after Anze Kopitar tipped a shot by Drew Doughty.
Where his presence was felt the most was probably on the power play unit and the Kings' first power play opportunity, which was in the second period. They looked much better than they have for most of the season. It didn't result in a goal but have Kuzmenko in front of the net they controlled the puck for most of the two minutes.
In one game, Kuzmenko seemed to address the two biggest issues for this offense, in regards to that left wing spot on Kopitar/Kempe's line and the power play. As he gets more familiar with his teammates, and vice versa, the hope is that it will only get better.
LA Kings shuffling defensive pairings pay off against Blues
The Los Angeles Kings also decided to make some significant changes to their defensive pairings ahead of this game. The injury to Doughty during the preseason required the team to shuffle the pairings and they had Mikey Anderson next to Vladislav Gavrikov.
The results have been great but Mikey Anderson spent most of last season next to Drew Doughty. After the return, the Kings stuck with Anderson/Gavrikov, but Doughty was struggling next to Joel Edmundson. The Kings decided to go back to what worked last year for this game with Anderson and Doughty, and it resulted in almost immediate positive returns.
However, it wasn't just Anderson and Doughty who benefited, as the defense looked the best it has in a few weeks as all three pairs seemed to work well together. The Kings had Joel Edmundson and Brandt Clarke paired with Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence as the other pair.
It was a noticeable improvement against a Blues team that they just played Wednesday night and this should remain the pairings for the rest of the season.
Los Angeles Kings need to regain their scoring touch
One of the biggest themes from the Kings recent losing streak was their inability to get the puck in the back of the net. This season it hasn't been uncommon for them to have these dry spells that will extend over multiple games.
For example, in the final seven games of January the Kings would score only nine goals during that stretch. It is not surprising that they also would struggle to win as they went 1-6-1 in those games.
The Kings turned things around quickly at the beginning of February as they went 6-0-1 and averaged 3.74 goals per game. Unfortunately now they are in another dry spell as they have scored only 10 goals in their last six games.
If they hope to go into Vegas and get a win, they are more than likely going to have to score more than the roughly 1.5 goals per game they are currently averaging.