St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings have come to know each other well over the past week.
On Saturday, the team will meet – in Los Angeles – for the third time in eight days and the last time during the regular season.
Blues won the first two matches against Kings, including a 3-2 shootout victory on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
St. Louis has won six of his last seven matches and enters on Saturday just one point behind the Vancouver Canucks for the last Jokcard in the Western Conference.
Los Angeles sits third in the Pacific Division, five points shy for Edmonton Oilers for second place. However, the kings have lost five straight and earned only two points (0-3-2) in that span.
Points have been a problem for Kings all season. They are the 23rd league by average 2.8 goals per match. The Power-Play devices are the third worst and convert only 15 percent of their opportunities this season.
The kings went without scoring on the male advantage in the nine games (0-for-14) that led to the four nations’ facial outages last month. In the seven matches since, they have received three of 17 chances.
To address the issue, the team acquired forward Andrei Kuzmo from Philadelphia Flyers just before Friday’s trade deadline.
After scoring 39 goals in 81 matches for Vancouver during the 2022-23 season, Russian has seen its production painting hard. He had 22 goals last season in the split time with Vancouver and Calgary. This season he has only six in 44 games between the flames and the flyer. Of his 67 career goals, 26 have been on Power Play.
King’s general manager Rob Blake told reporters after the trade deadline that Kuzmenko’s skills on the power play were a main reason for acquiring him.
“It’s one of the specialties with his shot. … With his point of view, (we) may get a different look at our power play and give us another offensive feeling for it,” Blake said. “You know, we tried some other players, but that’s what he does.”
Unlike the kings, Blues Pat stood at the deadline. There were reports about the team tried to buy the Veteran Center Brayden Schen, the team’s captain. TSN reported that Schen rejected to abstain from his clause without trading to close a deal that would have sent him to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The speculation did not affect his performance on the ice.
After seeing his five-match point dash on Wednesday, he matched his season high with two goals in Friday’s 4-3 victory against Anaheim Ducks. Schen, 33, has 40 points (14 goals, 26 assists) this season.
“What a real professional, or how a great leader,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after Friday’s victory. “Just come out and lead us properly. There are so many rumors that swirl with the trade deadline, and he just continues to play, continues to lead us. That’s why he is our captain.”
-Field level media
