Kings Can’t Stop the Skid: Shootout Loss to Blues Adds to Slump

 

By Tim Haddock

03/7/2025 at 1:00 PM

 

The Los Angeles Kings extended their five-game losing streak after falling to the St. Louis Blues in a 3-2 shootout loss at Crypto.com Arena, continuing their struggles both on the road and at home. With the NHL trade deadline approaching, the Kings acquired Andrei Kuzmenko from the Philadelphia Flyers in an effort to strengthen their roster as they fight for a playoff spot in the Pacific Division standings.

 

 

LOS ANGELES - The Kings’ struggles on the road followed them home in a game against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena.

 

The Kings lost to the Blues, 3-2, in a shootout. It was the fifth loss in a row for the Kings. Two of the Kings’ past three games have been against the Blues.

 

“I thought it was a good game. We battled,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said.

 

“We’re always going to drive ourselves crazy. We always want to be better.” 

 

The Blues took a 1-0 lead late in the first period on a goal by Jake Neighbours.

 

Quentin Byfield tied the score 1-1 with a goal 32 seconds later just before the end of the first period.

 

“I thought we played a lot harder, a lot tighter,” Byfeild said. “We kept it more simple.”

 

Trevor Moore gave the Kings a 2-1 lead midway through the second period. It was his sixth goal in the past 11 games.

 

But Robert Thomas tied the score for the Blues 2-2 on a power play with 47 seconds left in the second period.

 

Neither team scored in the third period, sending the game into overtime and eventually a shootout.

 

The Blues won the shootout, 2-1, with Thomas scoring again.

Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves.

 

Chad Bennington made 21 saves for the Blues.

 

The Kings lost three games in a row on the road before the game against the Blues. They lost to the Dallas, Blues and Chicago Blackhawks. The five-game losing streak started with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 26.

“It’s a challenging time for us,” Hiller said.

 

Anze Kopitar scored the lone goal in a 5-1 loss to the Blackhawks. His goal tied the score 1-1 in the first period. But the Blackhawks scored two goals in the second period and two more in the third period to blow the game open.

 

Alec Martinez scored for the Blackhawks in the first period. Ilya Mikheyev and Ethan Del Mastro scored in the second period and Andreas Athanasiou and Ryan Donato scored in the third period.

 

Kuemper made 14 saves for the Kings.

 

The Kings started the road trip with a 6-2 loss to the Stars and followed with a 4-1 loss to the Blues.

 

“It’s a long season. That happens in hockey,” Byfield said. “A lot of teams go through it.”

 

In the game against the Blues, Kevin Fiala gave the Kings a 1-0 lead in the first period with a power play goal. It was his 24th goal of the season.

 

The Blues followed with four unanswered goals and took the lead in the first period. 

 

Colton Parayko tied the score 1-1 midway through the period. Pavel Buchnevich gave the Blues a 2-1 with about two minutes left to play in the first period. 

 

Zack Bolduc scored in the second period for the Blues and Dylan Halloway scored in the third period.  

 

The Kings scored only four goals in the three road losses and four goals in the past three games.

 

The Kings are 31-20 with nine overtime losses in 51 games and in third place in the Pacific Division. 

 

They will play the Blues again at home before traveling to Las Vegas for a game against the first-place Golden Knights.

 

The Kings made a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers before the deadline and acquired Andrei Kuzmenko for a draft pick.

 

The Kings sent their third-round pick in the 2027 draft for Kuzmenko and a seventh-round pick in 2025. As part of the trade, the Flyers will retain 50% of Kuzmenko’s contract, which will expire at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season.

 

Kuzmenko, 29, has played in 44 NHL games this season with the Flyers and Calgary Flames. He has scored six goals and has 14 assists for 20 points with four power-play goals and three game-winning goals. 

 

In 197 career regular season NHL games, the forward has scored 67 goals and accumulated 140 points over parts of three seasons with Philadelphia, Calgary and the Vancouver Canucks. His best NHL season came during his rookie season in 2022-23 with Vancouver with career bests in games played (81), goals (39), assists (35) and points (74). Of his 67 career goals, 26 have come on the power play and 11 have been game-winners.

The native of Yakutsk, Russia, Kuzmenko has skated in 315 regular season games over eight seasons between CSKA Moskva and SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) while recording 85 goals and 200 points. He has also appeared in 61 KHL playoff games, tallying 18 goals and 29 points. During the 2021-22 campaign, Kuzmenko was the KHL Forward of the Month in December en route to a KHL First All-Star Team selection.

 

Internationally, Kuzmenko has represented Russia in two International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournaments, including the 2015 IIHF Men’s World Junior Championship where he won silver in Toronto, and the 2021 Men’s World Championship.