Moore scores, gets shootout winner in return, Kings defeat Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Trevor Moore scored in the third period, then added the deciding goal in the fourth round of the shootout for the Los Angeles Kings in a 5-4 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Moore was playing his first game after missing the previous 11 with an upper-body injury.

“It just feels good to be back and playing,” Moore said. “Just grateful for that and to see one go in in an important moment always feels good.

“Your adrenaline’s pumping [after] being out for a while. Your body sometimes goes on autopilot, which is nice.”

Alex Laferriere had a goal and an assist for the Kings (21-16-13), who have won two straight after four consecutive losses (0-1-3). Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves.

“We started good, but that second period with three goals allowed in a short amount of time was really disappointing,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “We made mistakes … we gave them three, but I really liked the push back after that to tie it was important, and I thought the third period was our best period. They scored one late but the third period, we had chances. It was nice to see the one go in to get us ahead.”

Adrian Kempe also scored in the shootout for the Kings. Dalibor Dvorsky scored for the Blues in the third round to keep the shootout alive.

“It’s fun to be put in those situations and to have the confidence from the guys that know you can score,” Moore said of the shootout.

Jordan Kyrou scored twice for the Blues (19-24-9), who have lost four straight (0-3-1), including 3-2 at the Dallas Stars on Friday. The loss also ended St. Louis' four-game home winning streak. Joel Hofer made 24 saves.

“I did not like our first 10 minutes of the game,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought they vastly started the game a lot better than we did. Their forwards were skating, we were getting caught from behind, we had too many turnovers at the red line and then I thought in the second period, we came out skating ourselves and we got a little more physical and we started winning more battles. You can say we were playing north really well.

“It would have been great if we won the game on Dvorsky’s breakaway (in overtime). That would have really capped off a really solid hockey effort by our team. There’s some things defensively that we need to clean up again. You can’t be happy any time you give up four goals.”

Moore put in a rebound at 11:34 of the third period to give the Kings a 4-3 lead with his 100th NHL goal. The Blues challenged for offside, but the goal was upheld after video review.

Kyrou tied it 4-4 at 17:50 for the Blues when he one-timed the rebound off Justin Faulk's point shot with Hofer pulled for an extra attacker.

“It felt good to tie it up and bring it to OT and give us a chance to win,” Kyrou said. “We found our legs a little more (in the second half of the game). I think it was kind of a slow start and then found it at the end of the first and we just picked it up and continued with that.”

Taylor Ward gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 4:31 of the first period when Alexey Toropchenko’s outlet pass along the left boards was deflected and intercepted at the blue line, and Ward’s shot from between the hash marks in the slot beat Hofer to the stick side.

Brian Dumoulin’s first of the season made it 2-0 at 1:11 of the second period on a one-time slap shot from the left point through a screen.

The Blues would rally for three goals in 5:56 to take a 3-2 lead.

Dvorsky put St. Louis on the board at 2:14 to make it 2-1, then Brayden Schenn’s power-play goal at 6:30 tied it 2-2, and Kyrou’s wraparound goal at 8:10 gave the Blues their first lead at 3-2.

“I think we started playing overall better hockey,” Dvorsky said. “More straightforward. We started getting pucks to the net and that’s why we started scoring. We have to shoot the puck more.”

Laferriere tied it 3-3 at 10:18 on a short side shot just inside the post.

“We didn’t panic,” Moore said. “We had been playing a pretty good game, making some plays out there, so just more of that.”

NOTES: The Kings have played in a League-high 21 games in overtime or a shootout this season; they are 8-13. … Moore played 19:43 and had a team-high five shots. … Kyrou has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past seven games. … St. Louis fell to 1-9 in overtime or shootout games this season.