National Hockey League
Los Angeles 5, St. Louis 1
When: 10:30 PM ET, Saturday, November 18, 2023
Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California
Referees: Tom Chmielewski, Chris Schlenker
Linesmen: Scott Cherrey, Brandon Grillo
Attendance: 18145

Adrian Kempe scored a short-handed goal and also had an assist to highlight a four-goal first period for Los Angeles and Cam Talbot made 29 saves to lead the host Kings to a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.

Quinton Byfield, Blake Lizotte, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kevin Fiala also scored for Los Angeles, which closed to within five points of the first-place Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division with two games in hand. The Kings also improved to 8-1-2 over their last 11 games.

Talbot picked up his ninth victory (9-3-1), second in the league behind Colorado's Alexandar Georgiev (10-4-0).

Jake Neighbours scored a goal and Jordan Binnington finished with 25 saves for St. Louis, which lost its second straight game.

Los Angeles scored twice in the first three minutes to take a 2-0 lead. Byfield got the first goal on a power play when he whacked in a rebound on his third try from in front of the crease for his third goal of the season.

Lizotte followed 19 seconds later with his fourth goal when he stole a pass below the right circle and put in a wrist shot inside the near post.

Kempe made it 3-0 at the 13:37 mark with his 10th career short-handed goal and eighth goal of the season when he roofed a backhand shot on a breakaway.

Dubois extended the lead to 4-0 just 1:43 later when he finished an odd-man rush with a one-timer from the right circle.

Fiala made it 5-0 with 24 seconds left in the second period when he broke down the slot, took a pass from Phillip Danault and fired a wrist shot past Binnington's blocker side.

Neighbours spoiled Talbot's bid for his second shutout of the season with 3:54 to go when he rushed down the left wing and fired a wrist shot into the top-left corner for his third goal of the season.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
St. Louis   Los Angeles
Jake Neighbours 1 Points Adrian Kempe 2
Jake Neighbours 1 Goals Adrian Kempe 1
Sammy Blais 1 Assists Adrian Kempe 1
N/A Power Play Goals Quinton Byfield 1
N/A Short Handed Goals Adrian Kempe 1
Jordan Binnington .839 Save Percentage Cam Talbot .967
Jordan Binnington 26 Saves Cam Talbot 29
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
St. Louis 30 1 0-3 1-2 4 27
Los Angeles 31 5 1-2 3-3 6 21
Upcoming Games
  • Los Angeles will play their next game on the road against Arizona. The Kings have a W/L % of .667 after a win and .571 after a loss.
  • St. Louis will play their next game on the road against Anaheim. The Blues have a W/L % of .333 after a win and .714 after a loss.