Royal Beatdown: Los Angeles Kings Unleash on Blues in 5-0 Home Opener

In front of a sell-out Staples Center crowd, the Los Angeles Kings got multi-point games from Simon Gagne, Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Jarret Stoll as they crushed the St. Louis Blues.

The two teams fought a closely contested first period, the only marker coming from Kings forward Simon Gagne just after the seven minute mark.

The Kings made a series of nice breakout passes, starting at their own blue line, which led to a cross ice opportunity for Gagne that he tucked under the arm of starter Jaroslav Halak.

It would seem that the second period would be just as tight as the first. However, at 11:36, the Kings' Jarret Stoll would give them an insurance goal. Stoll slipped behind St. Louis forward Chris Stewart and buried a behind-the-net feed from Dustin Brown.

It would be only three and a half minutes later when Dustin Brown would get a goal of his own. With Chris Stewart and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo off serving penalties the Kings 5-on-3 would connect. Mike Richards exploited the space below the circle and found Dustin Brown camped in the crease in front of Halak for the cross ice tip in.

Halak's night wouldn't last much longer. 23 seconds into the third period Anze Kopitar collected his fourth goal in five games on an unscreened shot from the blue line that Halak would certainly like to have back.

A goalie change didn't seem to spur on the tired-looking Blues, who were on their third game in four nights. Anze Kopitar lifted a nifty airborne pass from the Kings' blue line that dropped directly onto the stick of a breaking Simon Gagne. Gagne would slide home his second of the night and third of the year past backup Brian Elliot at 6:29 in the third.



The Kings will walk away happy having played a complete sixty minutes and breaking a seven game losing streak to the Blues.

My Three Stars

*Simon Gagne **Anze Kopitar ***Jarret Stoll

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