Recap: Los Angeles vs. St. Louis
Sports Network | November 09, 2008
Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Anze Kopitar registered a goal and an assist, as the Los Angeles Kings came away with a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues at Staples Center.
Alexander Frolov, Tom Preissing, Dustin Brown and Drew Doughty also had a goal and an assist for the Kings, who are 2-2-2 on a seven-game homestand that will end Tuesday against Dallas. Erik Ersberg stopped 24-of-27 shots.
"We were working hard," said Kopitar. "We had chances and tonight we really came through."
Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes both collected a goal and an assist for St. Louis, which is riding a five-game losing streak.
Manny Legace returned to the crease for the Blues and allowed four goals on 30 shots. He hadn't played since suffering a strained left hip flexor in St. Louis' 4-0 home loss to the Kings on October 24, when he tripped on a carpet laid out for former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin to drop the ceremonial first puck.
McDonald put the visitors on the board 1:50 into the third period, but Doughty's power-play marker gave Los Angeles a 4-1 lead with 8:02 showing on the clock.
Patrik Berglund countered for the Blues less than two minutes later, and Boyes' one-timer from the left circle while on the power play made it a one- goal game with 1:27 left.
Sixteen seconds had elapsed when Brown fired the puck into an empty net to seal the victory.
"I thought we had all kinds of chances to score on our power plays, but Ersberg played well," said Blues head coach Andy Murray. "We were trying, we didn't quit. We were battling until the end and I think we made them nervous. They made a good play and got that empty-net goal, but we didn't fade away."
The Kings opened the scoring at the 3:01 mark of the first period. While on a power play, Brown let go a shot that went through Legace and wide. Kopitar corralled the rebound, came around the far post and scored on the wraparound. It was the first goal in nine games for the third-year pivot, who netted 32 last season.
Los Angeles got a pair of goals in the middle stanza to grab a 3-0 lead. With David Koci in the box for interference, Kyle Quincey took a shot from the point that deflected off Frolov in the slot and behind Legace at 7:14. Preissing's wrister made its way through traffic with 1:19 remaining.
LA's Terry Murray coached his 750th career game...St. Louis continues its five-game road trip Wednesday in Buffalo...Los Angeles has won three of the last four meetings...The Kings finished 3-for-6 on the power play, while St. Louis went 1-for-4.
