The Los Angeles Kings sent a clear message in series opener against the St. Louis Blues: the first round was no fluke.
The Kings, seeded eighth in the Western Conference playoffs, continued their impressive streak with a 3-1 win over the heavily-favored Blues on Saturday and look like an intriguing team going forward.
They did it by beating St. Louis at its own game: with tough, physical play and great goaltending. Los Angeles was second in the league in goals against during the regular season, and proved to be superior to the Blues in the first game. They got a big spark from Matt Greene’s shorthanded goal and held St. Louis scoreless on three power play opportunities. It was the first shorthanded goal by a Los Angeles defenseman in the playoffs since 1993, according to Covers.
“For whatever reason, we gave those chances up,” captain Dustin Brown said. “But I think we did a pretty good job of correcting those mistakes and limiting their grade-A scoring chances the rest of the game.”
The Kings carried their momentum after beating Presidents’ Cup winner Vancouver in the first round.
”It’s a great start, you couldn’t ask for a better one,” forward Dustin Penner told the Associatd Press. ”After a win you want to break it down to areas where you could have made it easier on yourself getting that win and that’s what we’ll do.”
Things might not get any easier for St. Louis Monday. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo left with a concussion after a brutal hit that bloodied his face Saturday and is questionable to return for Game Two.
“He was in a dangerous area there, obviously,” teammate Andy McDonald said. “You’re four feet from the boards and you get pushed from behind, that’s a scary hit. Hopefully he’s OK. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Head coach Ken Hitchcock said former first-round pick Ian Cole will likely replace Pietrangelo, but wouldn’t comment whether he though a suspension should come from the hit.
”Why don’t we leave that for the league?” Hitchcock said. ”I’m more worried about Petro and our group. Everybody’s made their comments, we’ve all seen the written stuff.
”Let’s just let them comment. Let’s move on to Game 2.”
Still, Pietrangelo’s injury will create a difficult hole to fill.
He’s one of the league’s best two-way players with over 25 minutes per game. He leads the league in shifts per game.
”It’s a tough game, that’s a fact,” Kings coach Daryly Sutter told the Associated Press. ”You guys want to take hitting right out and see how exciting it is? Everybody talks about the first round, it happened to us to, not on a play that was accidental. It was a flagrant foul and we didn’t complain but everybody loves watching it.”
Bovada is giving the edge to the Blues by 1 1/2 goals with a -155 moneyline.