The Kings squandered a golden opportunity to gain ground in the Pacific Division playoff when the St. Louis Blues came to down and blew out LA 7-2 on Saturday afternoon.

With the Anaheim Ducks idle and the San Jose Shark loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday, it provided the Kings an opportunity to catch up to their fellow Californian teams and get back to fighting for the division.

However, St. Louis had other plans by scoring early, often, and at the most deflating times to decimate the Kings at home.

Jaden Schwartz had a goal and two assists, while Kyle Brodziak, Ivan Barbashev, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Alex Pietrangelo all had two points each to lead the way for Blues.

Drew Doughty and Dustin Brown had the lone goals for the Kings.

Kings’ coach, John Stevens, wants to make sure that this isn’t viewed as a debilitating loss.

“To me, our whole thing all along is to be honest,” explained Stevens. “Did you guys put yourself in a position to win a hockey game tonight? No, we didn’t. Do we understand how hard it is to win this time of year? Yes, we do.”

“There’s 15 games left… and you can’t put off until tomorrow what you can get done today.”



St. Louis has had a similar season to the Kings in which they had a really hot start and thought to have cemented themselves in the playoff picture. However, like the Kings they have had massive losing streaks, which have dropped them out of the playoff picture.

With the victory today, the Blues are now three points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second Wild Card position and are eight points behind the Minnesota Wild for third in the Central.

As mentioned, the Kings had a glorious opportunity to gain ground today with the Sharks losing and the Flames and Ducks idle. They remain one point out of both the second Wild Card spot in the west and third in the Pacific Division.

“We’ve got to handle this (loss) as we handle every game,” said newcomer Dion Phaneuf. “It is the score, and when you get beat like this, you take it, you stand, you look at it, and you move forward.”

“The bottom line is they had a little bit more in all the areas, and we didn’t have enough push.”

The one thing that cannot happen, whether it is the stretch drive to end the season or the playoffs, is allow goals within the first five minutes of a period and the last minute of a period. This was something the Kings did really well early in the season and when they did, they took all the momentum.

In this game the Kings allowed three goals within the first three minutes of the first and third period, and allowed two goals within the last three minutes of the second period. Nothing is more deflating as a fan or as a player when every time momentum is claimed it is just taken away quickly.

Dear @ThePHWA,

We're glad this game is on early enough for everyone on the East Coast.
You should know that Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar have been doing this all season long.

Your pals,@LAKings pic.twitter.com/4AEGGIXPqb

— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 10, 2018

Having games in the afternoon brings certain attention to Western Conference teams that they don’t ordinarily get from the eastern side of the continent. As far as play on ice, that doesn’t matter much, fans generally don’t care about what type of coverage their team gets outside of their own market.

However, these games are an opportunity for the hockey writers on the eastern side of the continent to properly watch the stars of the west. While the Kings didn’t put their best foot forward, Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar will show their skills for the Norris, Selke, and possibly the Hart trophy next Saturday when the Devils visit Staples Center.

Meanwhile, the Kings quest for the playoffs continues on Monday when they host the Vancouver Canucks and then travel to Arizona the follow night for a date with the Coyotes. The Canucks have been missing their super rookie, Brock Boeser, and have lost five of their last six games. Vancouver will be on the back-end of a back-to-back to a Kings team that will be waiting for them.

Meanwhile, the Coyotes have played the role of spoiler lately when they beat the Wild 5-3 last week however they couldn’t help the Kings out when they lost to the Avalanche 5-2 this afternoon. Arizona will get a crack at the Canucks prior to LA on Sunday before travelling to LA.

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