To start a Western Conference road trip for five games this week, the Los Angeles Kings (2-3-2) needed a strong start on the road tonight against the St. Louis Blues (3-2-1) at the Enterprise Center. Jim Hiller and the Kings got a huge win on the road to set the tone for this road trip on a beautiful overtime goal by Adrian Kempe to get the win over the Blues by a score of 2-1.
Adrian Kempe and the Los Angeles Kings leave St. Louis with an OT win over the Blues on the power play
The Kings had some new and familiar faces in the lineup tonight against the Blues to start this five-game Western Conference road trip against the Central and Pacific Division. Starting goalie Darcy Kuemper made his first start since suffering a lower-body injury this past week against the Minnesota Wild on the road.
Veteran Corey Perry also made his season debut for the Kings tonight on the forward lines with the fourth-line forward group.
Tonight had to be a start that Jim Hiller and the Kings' coaching staff were impressed by. The Kings didn't give up many scoring chances in the first period to start the game. And the Kings got some decent chances, registering four high-danger scoring chances in the game's first period in the offensive zone.
LA broke the ice tonight on the road with a nice breakaway goal from Alex Laferriere early in the game's second period where he put the puck top shelf on the backhand on a nice deke past Jordan Binnington for the Blues.
The second period for the Kings and Blues really slowed down. There were only two high-danger scoring chances combined between the Kings and Blues in the second period's first 15 minutes.
The Blues established offensive zone time against the Kings late in the second and early in the game's third period. Justin Faulk made up for the bad turnover that resulted in the Laferriere goal early in the second period with a goal that got past Kuemper after a phantom tripping penalty on the Kings in the final frame.
After 60 minutes on the scoreboard, the Kings and Blues headed to overtime in St. Louis. Adrian Kempe blasted a one-timer past Binnington to give the Kings their first non-shootout win of the regular season this fall on Tuesday night in St. Louis
Here are three takeaways from the Kings' 2-1 overtime win over the Blues on the road on Oct. 21.
Alex Laferriere finally gets on the scoreboard with his first goal
The Kings set the tone in this game in the offensive zone with some consistent presence and scoring chances on that end of the ice tonight from the top-line forward group up front.
This past weekend against the Carolina Hurricanes, Hiller moved Laferriere from the first line after the game's first period. Laferriere responded tonight with a nice outing on both ends of the ice at the center position for Hiller and the Kings in St. Louis.
Laferriere rewarded Hiller by sticking with him and scoring the game's first goal on a breakaway early in the game's second period tonight against the Blues.
this is the good stuff 🤌 pic.twitter.com/ealYEXPDyj
— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 22, 2025
Hiller stuck with Laferriere on the first line with Kempe and Kuzmenko for the rest of the game into the third period for the forward lines.
Laferriere was close to netting the game's final goal late in the third period in clutch time on a puck that bounced away from Binnington in front of the net for LA.
Darcy Kuemper consistent in net to start for easy two periods
Kuemper led the team out on the ice tonight for the Kings for the first time in over a week, since he suffered the lower-body injury against the Wild this past week on Monday.
Kuemper returned to practice early this week for the Kings for the first time in nearly a week for the team.
I thought Kuemper played fantastic in net for the Kings tonight. He was calm and collected in the crease, handling rebounds effectively and recovering quickly on scoring chances in front of the net for the Blues in the second period.
While there weren't all that many scoring chances and shots on goal for the Blues in the game's first two periods, the shots they did get against Kuemper had a chance of going in. The Blues had five high-danger scoring chances in the game's first two periods, including four in the opening frame in the first period (per Natural Stat Trick).
Kuemper was stout in regulation for the Kings, making 17 saves on 18 shots on goal from the Blues, including a dozen scoring chances from St. Louis.
Adrian Kempe comes in clutch in overtime
In his return to St. Louis, John Kelly delivered his classic "goodbye, good night, and game over" line after Kempe knocked a one-timer into the net to defeat the Blues in overtime for the Kings.
Kempe wins it in overtime and what a call by the broadcast after 😂🚨 pic.twitter.com/ShKksVCYMx
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 22, 2025
What a night it was for Kempe and the Kings' first line in a tough game on the road against a playoff-caliber team from the West in the Blues. Kempe was locked in and ready for the pass from Kuzmenko on the 4-on-3 man advantage power play on special teams.
He not only gave the Kings the game-winner tonight vs. the Blues in overtime to get back on the right side of the win column in the standings, but Kempe also registered the assist on the game's first goal in the second period from Laferriere.