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Thursday, Jan. 13 10:30pm ET
Blues recover from sluggish start | |||||
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BOX SCORE
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Although the St. Louis Blues have been an NHL franchise since the 1967-68 season, they have never finished with the league's best record. This is their best shot so far. The Blues improved to 27-11-6 Thursday night, beating the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Scott Young's power-play goal with 13:25 remaining. The victory, coupled with Detroit's 5-3 loss to Chicago, gives St. Louis a league-leading 60 points -- one more than the Red Wings and the idle New Jersey Devils. "Right now I think the biggest challenge is Detroit," Young said. "We've been chasing them all year and now we've inched in front of them, but there's a lot of hockey left. We've always got an eye on Detroit, but we've just got to worry about how we're playing." Jamal Mayers and Lubos Bartecko jump-started a sluggish St. Louis offense with goals less than 1½ minutes apart late in the first period as the Blues extended their unbeaten streak to eight games with their fourth straight victory. Bryan Smolinski recorded his first multiple-goal game with the Kings, who have won only twice in their last 12. "St. Louis worked really hard for the win," Smolinski said. "We've just got to bear down and win these one-goal games. We're putting in the effort; we just have to realize it's a long season and we can get through this stretch by working hard." Kings defenseman Sean O'Donnell was serving an interference penalty when the Blues regained the lead. Al MacInnis got a cross-ice pass from Chris Pronger at the right point and sent a shot toward the net that grazed Young's stick and dribbled between Stephane Fiset's pads. "Our power play was pretty ugly all night, but they did a pretty good job killing penalties," Young said after scoring his 14th goal. "They had everything covered, but Al saw me alone in front." Smolinski's 12th goal of the season tied the score with 29 seconds left in the second period. Garry Galley got the puck from Jaroslav Modry as he came out of the penalty box and sent Ziggy Palffy into the St. Louis zone on a two-on-one with Smolinski against Pronger. Smolinski's 10-foot wrist shot from the left of the net found room between Roman Turek's glove and the post. "I saw Palffy and Smolinski coming, and the puck just went off the tip of my stick and kind of handcuffed Smolinski a bit," Pronger said. "But he was able to get control of it." The Blues, who obtained two-time 50-goal scorer Stephane Richer hours earlier in a trade with Tampa Bay to bolster their offense, managed only three shots in the first period -- and just one through the first 17 minutes and 22 seconds. But they escaped with a 2-1 lead. "The way the game went tonight was really not typical of our games all year," Young said. "We usually outshoot teams very badly, but tonight we had a very tough time getting the puck at the net. We still found a way to win. So, ugly or not, it was a good win." Mayers won a foot race with rookie Jere Karalahti for a loose puck deep in the Kings zone and beat Fiset between the pads on the Blues' next shot to tie it 1-1. Moments later, Bartecko was credited with his 10th goal when Pavol Demitra's slap shot from the top of the right circle ricocheted off Bartecko's stick and the leg of Kings defenseman Rob Blake. "They shut us down pretty good," Pronger said after the Blues were outshot 26-16. "But that's the way our team has played this year -- just be patient, bide our time and eventually we'll get to you." Smolinski opened the scoring at 3:36 of the first period. Luc Robitaille crossed the St. Louis blue line with the puck and fed it to Glen Murray, who pulled the puck back as Scott Pellerin whizzed past him and took a 40-foot wrist shot that deflected off Smolinski and into the top-right corner past Turek's stick hand. Turek made 24 saves while stretching his unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1). The Blues, who have the league's third-best road record at 12-6-2, have won 10 of their last 14 away from Kiel Center. Murray left the game in the opening period with a bruised chest after taking a heavy check against the boards by Tyson Nash. X-rays were negative. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard St. Louis Clubhouse Los Angeles Clubhouse Lightning strike deal, send Richer to Blues
RECAPS Buffalo 0 Boston 0
St. Louis 3
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NHL West: Midseason report