LOS ANGELES _ The Los Angeles Kings were on the receiving end of a St. Louis Blues blitz in the first period Monday at Staples Center. There were two goals by Brayden Schenn, one by Jaden Schwartz and another by Vince Dunn.
"Guys came out ready, competed hard, took advantage of some opportunities and we scored," coach Craig Berube said.
That proved to be more than enough to send the Blues home for Christmas with a 4-1 victory. They have won six in a row, their second-longest winning streak of the season.
"We talked before (the game) about being ready to go in the first period and each guy be accountable for himself and they were," Berube said.
The Blues, with the second-best record in the NHL, now take a three-day Christmas break with a 24-8-6 record, good for 54 points. They are midway through a stretch of 12 consecutive games against Western Conference teams, and next play Friday in Winnipeg.
The Blues had a pair of power play goals Monday and got two assists apiece by David Perron and Alex Pietrangelo.
After that scintillating opening period, there was an evenly played second period. But then the Blues spent the third period on their heels, getting outshot 15-6 and surviving three L.A. power plays.
"They were gonna push after that first period _ we all know that," Berube said. "We took some penalties. In the third we got in penalty trouble, so that was the difference there."
Even so the Blues kept the Kings off the scoreboard over the final two periods, maintaining their status as the best in the Western Conference. Only Washington of the Eastern Conference, with 57 points on a record of 26-7-5, is better.
The Blues are 12-4-3 at home and 12-4-3 on the road this season. Now that's consistency.
It was 4-1 Blues after one period, with a late power play goal by the Kings' Alex Iafallo preventing total embarrassment early for the home team. And that's the way it stayed.
The four goals in one period matched a season high by St. Louis, last achieved in Game 4 on Oct. 10, when the Blues scored four times in the third period of a 6-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Schenn's first goal came at the 4:51 mark of the opening period, when he spun around quickly in the slot and sent a shot that deflected into the net off the stick of a Los Angeles defender.
Just 52 seconds later, Schwartz notched his 11th goal of the season _ a power play goal that came on a deflection of a blue line shot by Pietrangelo. Schwartz thus matched his goal total of the entire 2018-19 regular season. Before Christmas.
Dunn then scored his sixth goal of the season skating around from behind the net and finding himself uncovered after Matt Luff of the Kings fell down trying to cover him.
Schenn then made it 4-0 at the 12:21 mark of the first on _ would you believe it? _ a 2-on-0 break on the power play. It was Schenn's 17th goal of the season, matching his total from the entire 2018-19 regular season.
Goalie Jordan Binnington, making his first start of the week, stopped 29 of 30 shots in improving to 17-6-4 for the season. The only Kings goal Monday came on a deflection.
