St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Erik Johnson scored with 6:47 left in the third period and the St. Louis Blues held on for a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings at the Scottrade Center. Patrik Berglund also tallied for St. Louis, which recovered from a 4-2 loss at San Jose on Saturday and have won two of three after dropping five straight. Jaroslav Halak was steady between the pipes, stopping 26-of-27 shots to pick up the win.
Kyle Clifford accounted for the lone goal for the Kings, who have lost two in a row and nine of 11 overall. Jonathan Quick made 24 saves in defeat. In a tight defensive battle which was tied 1-1 in the later stages of the third period, Johnson took a pass from Alex Steen and flipped a soft wrister toward the net from just above the right circle that went under the arm of Quick and trickled in for the go-ahead tally.
LA had a power-play chance when Vladimir Sobotka went off for tripping 18 seconds later, but the Kings were unable to capitalize. Then, skating with the goaltender pulled in favor of the extra attacker late in the contest, St. Louis never allowed a decent scoring chance and held on for the victory.
Berglund redirected a perfect pass from Matt D'Agostini past Quick with the Blues skating with a 5-on-3 advantage at 11:56 of the first period. Clifford tipped home Matt Greene's point shot with 3:39 remaining in the second and it would stay deadlocked until Johnson's tally in the third. St. Louis has won all three games against Los Angeles this season and six in a row dating back to December, 2009...Kings forward Wayne Simmonds missed his second straight game due to a lower-body injury...Blues forward T.J. Oshie returned to the lineup after missing 31 games with a broken left ankle...He had two shots in almost 18 minutes of ice time.
For more information on tonight's game, be sure to read Jewels From The Crown.