LOS ANGELES (AP) — Quinton Byfield scored on a wrist shot 27 seconds into overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
Byfield got his 13th goal of the season, capitalizing on a turnover forced by Adrian Kempe before scoring from the left circle to end the Kings’ five-game skid.
Anze Kopitar had a goal, Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves, and Los Angeles picked up a win in three games against St. Louis in the past eight days.
Nick Leddy scored and Joel Hofer made 21 saves, helping the Blues pick up a point for the 11th time in 13 games to surge back into wild-card contention.
Leddy’s first goal of the season came early in the third period on a slap shot through traffic, cancelling out Kopitar’s tip of a shot from Drew Doughty late in the first.
Takeaways
Blues: Hofer was crucial in helping St. Louis get to overtime by stopping all 12 shots in the third, including dangerous chances from Byfield and Alex Laferriere midway through the period.
Kings: Andrei Kuzmenko made his Los Angeles debut one day after being acquired in a trade from Philadelphia, but the erratic 29-year-old winger couldn’t help his new team’s struggling power play, which went 0 for 2.
Key moment
Kempe’s timely pressure took the puck off of Dylan Holloway early in overtime, allowing Byfield to build up some momentum and score for the second straight game.
Key stat
Kopitar and Doughty factored on the same goal for the 307th time to tie Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang for second-most by a forward and defenseman combination in NHL history.
Up Next
The Blues visit Pittsburgh on Thursday night, and the Kings wrap up a back-to-back visiting Vegas on Sunday.