Kings score twice in third to top Blues
Mike Richards had a goal and an assist and Willie Mitchell scored the winner on his first goal of the season to help the Los Angeles Kings slip past the St. Louis Blues 3-2 Tuesday night.
The Kings got a team-leading 10th goal from Anze Kopitar, and Jonathan Bernier stopped 23 shots in only his fourth start of the season as the Kings won in St. Louis for only the third time in 11 tries.
Alex Steen and Vladimir Sobotka scored for the Blues, who only lost for the second time in regulation in 10 home games. Jaroslav Halak stopped 25 shots.
Mitchell's shot from the left point got through after the Blues' Scott Nichol went down to block the shot, but it beat Halak on the near side with 5:49 remaining.
Steen put the Blues up 1-0 with his team-leading eighth goal of the season just 1:07 into the game off a nice give-and-go play with T.J. Oshie.
The Kings' Kopitar scored the tying goal 7:36 into the second, a power-play goal after Richards picked off Barret Jackman's turnover in the right corner, feeding Kopitar in the crease, beating Halak.
Patrik Berglund nearly put the Blue's ahead twice in the later stages of the second period, once after stripping a puck at the blue line short-handed and creating a 2-on-1 breakaway. But Berglund couldn't finish his shot as Bernier made a shoulder stop. Berglund also saw Bernier rob him in the slot on a backhand after taking Sobotka's feed.
Richards broke a 1-all tie in the third when Andrei Loktionov picked off another Jackman puck, fed Richards in the slot and he beat Halak cleanly 4:41 into the period.
Sobotka got the equalizer for the Blues, finishing off Matt D'Agostini's pass in the left circle with 7:32 remaining.
Notes: Kings coach Terry Murray (61) and Blues coach Ken Hitchcock (59) are the oldest coaches in the league. They have a combined 2,052 games coached between them; Hitchcock with 1,048, Murray 1,004. ... The Blues' top line of David Backes, Oshie and Steen have 13 points in five games. Oshie has nine points in nine games. ... Richards has now scored five goals in four straight games and has eight points in six games. ... The Blues placed D Carlo Colaiacovo (hamstring) on the injured list retroactive to Friday.
