Kings beat Blues in Joonas Korpisalo’s debut
LOS ANGELES –– The third lead was a charm for the Kings, who built edges of 1-0 and 2-1 before ultimately winning 4-2 over the St. Louis Blues at Crypto.com Arena Saturday night.
Wingers Carl Grundstrom, Adrian Kempe, Gabe Vilardi and Kevin Fiala lit the lamp for the Kings. Fiala added an assist and defenseman Drew Doughty had two on a night where he played game No. 1,077 to tie him for the fourth most in franchise history. Joonas Korpisalo made 24 saves and earned a win in his Kings debut after being acquired from Columbus earlier this week.
Wingers Robert Thomas and Kasperi Kapanen scored goals for St. Louis. Jordan Binnington stopped 34 of 37 shots in defeat.
The Kings remained in a points tie for first place in the Pacific Division with Vegas and trailed Dallas by just one point for the best record in the Western Conference.
“There’s no such thing as perfect,” Coach Todd McLellan said. “But I think that our goaltending is solid, our D know what they need to do and our forwards, for the most part, get the job done. For as much as you’d like to win five-nothing every night, playing in these games, once they’re over and we do win them, is probably good for us.”
Korpisalo became the fourth goaltender to start for the Kings this season, despite the fact that they have not had any injuries in net or emergency recalls. The carousel may settle on Korpisalo if he continues to provide a steady hand.
“These are the games you enjoy the most. There’s more pressure, but you play for these games, so it’s exciting,” said Korpisalo, who said he shook off some early jitters and then settled in nicely by his own standards.
As was the case against Montreal Thursday, the Kings were undaunted by a late six-on-five effort from St. Louis, icing the victory with Fiala’s empty-net goal with 1:56 to play.
“These are the kind of games we’re going to see. It’s getting closer to the end of the year, tight checking, not a lot of space, kind of slugging it out in the corners and tight areas,” McLellan said. “Our penalty kill did a really good job tonight, our power play got us the win yet put us in a situation where we needed a goal.”
The Kings’ power play converted for the first time, on its third opportunity of the night, with 3:03 remaining. Vilardi nearly set up an Anze Kopitar tap-in with some nifty hands in tight, and then Vilardi flashed a ridiculous move to pot the game-winner. His fake on the doorstep discombobulated Binnington, pulling him toward the far post and allowing Vilardi to deposit the puck inside the near one. Vilardi has a goal in three straight games and four of his last five outings.
“That’s obviously a high-end goal,” St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk said. “Binner played great, again we probably asked him to make too many big saves and that was an opportunity where he was put in a bad position by us.”
Earlier, a power play afforded the Kings a chance to slam the door shut but instead they swung it wide open for St. Louis by allowing a shorthanded goal. Defenseman Sean Durzi’s giveaway to winger Brandon Saad became a touch pass to the wrong guy to serve up a breakaway, the lightning-footed Kapanen. He darted in on goal and popped a shot above Korpisalo’s glove for his second goal in three games since being claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“He’s fast, he’s skilled. I think guys have known that; it’s nothing new with him,” Faulk said.
Soon after the goal, forward Quinton Byfield exited the game after an awkward fall that sent him to the ice unnaturally and appeared to jar his neck. He was evaluated away from the bench and did not return to the ice, but McLellan said after the game that Byfield was “fine.”
After trading runs of possession early, the Kings began to separate themselves, hitting the net 16 times to the Blues’ 7 in the second period. The Kings emerged with a one-goal lead to show for it, too.
With 7:10 left in the stanza, it was a new addition, a prime player and a future star connecting on the go-ahead goal. Vladislav Gavrikov broke up a play, then Byfield recovered the puck before sending a stretch pass aloft from his own blue line all the way to the top of the left faceoff circle. Kempe skated it into the feed and fired the puck to the short side for his team-topping 29th goal of 2022-23.
St. Louis had equalized and sullied Korpisalo’s spotless save percentage as a King when Thomas popped in a rebound from the low slot for his 15th goal of the campaign, 1:55 before the first intermission.
With just under seven minutes left in the first period, St. Louis’ leading scorer Jordan Kyrou let fly with a shot that hit the post, caromed off Korpisalo’s skate and then teetered on the goal line before being cleared to safety by Grundstrom.
The hockey gods evened out that break, when soon after when a Kings two-on-one fell by the wayside because center Blake Lizotte’s finishing attempt hit the post, glanced off Binnington and strayed wide. They also had already rewarded Grundstrom with a goal.
The Kings had ignited the game with five unanswered shots on goal, the fifth of which opened the scoring just 3:14 into the match. Grundstrom was the first Kings player to touch the puck on the forecheck and then the last to make contact with it as he tipped defenseman Matt Roy’s shot home. It was Grundstrom’s seventh goal of the season but his first since Dec. 1, as injuries and lineup decisions have limited him to just four games.
“Carl did his job and he got a good stick on it,” Roy said.