St . Louis Blues Outmuscle Los Angeles Kings in OT 2-1

What a game, the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings just thoroughly impressed the crowd at the Scottrade Center tonight with a fabulous game that ended with the hometown Blues winning 2-1 in OT.

Wow, coming down from that game is quite difficult. The St. Louis Blues did their best to repeat  Tuesday night’s victory against the Dallas Stars, this time against a much more physical opponent in the Los Angeles Kings, a team the St. Louis Blues have had their fair share of great games with in the past five seasons.

The Blues came out rocking in the first period, dominating the puck and the shots, as they had 16 shots on goal to the Kings’ 8 at the end of the period. The Blues were only able to put one tally on the board, with Robby Fabbri‘s 14th goal that beat Jonathan Quick on the power play to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

Everything looked good for the Blues after the first period. However, things changed and changed quickly in the second period. The Kings seemingly woke up from their slumber and started to put the body on the Blues, and the Blues responded, but also started taking penalties and putting themselves at risk.

A few of the penalties were quite questionable, as Vladimir Tarasenko was drilled behind the Kings’ goal and no call was made, but the refs were quick to penalize Robert Bortuzzo for coming to Tarasenko’s defense. The game was quick and chippy throughout that period and into the third.

The Blues were able to hold off the Kings’ surge in the second period without giving up a goal, thank to the stellar play of Brian Elliott. In the third period the Blues had their chances to get even more ahead in the game, but were denied by Quick on many chances. The Kings would eventually capitalize on a Blues’ penalty, as Tyler Toffoli managed to get the puck by Elliott on the power play.

The game turned into a goalie and defense show from then on, and the game seemed destined for overtime. True to Kings/Blues form, the game went to overtime. Both teams had good chances early on, as Tarasenko hit the crossbar and was robbed by Quick in the period. The Kings had a 2 on 1, where Milan Lucic seemed like he was going to score the winner. Elliott was not having any of that, as he made a great glove save robbing Lucic of a sure goal.

This was huge, as not long after that Schwartz managed to get a turnover and breakaway and managed to score a bit of a lucky goal, as the the puck hit the post and went off Quick’s skate and in. It didn’t matter how it happened, as the Blues had their second straight overtime victory over a tough Western Conference rival.

This was a huge game for the Blues to come up with, this marks the second straight game that the Blues have beat the Kings, as they beat them in January in a shootout in LA. This game is going to be a big confidence booster for the Blues, as they head closer to the playoffs. This team seems to be playing better and better each night, let’s hope this continues on Saturday night, as they go back on the road to play the Arizona Coyotes at 8:00 PM CST.

It is hard to pick a highlight in this game, as the Blues had many great plays. However, the highlight of the night is obviously Schwartz’s OT winner. This was Schwartz’s third goal since he returned on Friday night. Safe to say nobody thought Schwartz was going to be factor this early, but he absolutely has been.

Next: Don't cry for Brian Elliott

What are your thoughts on the game Blues’ fans? Were you nervous in OT?