LOS ANGELES – Alex Pietrangelo tied it in the second period and Troy Brouwer got the dediding goal in the seventh round of the shootout to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 Saturday night.
Brian Elliott made 26 saves as the Blues snapped a five-game losing streak that included back-to-back overtime defeats to Ottawa and Colorado and a 4-3 shootout loss at Anaheim the previous night.
St. Louis did it without center Paul Stastny and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, who received upper body injuries in the first period of the game against the Ducks.
Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings, who lead Arizona by nine points atop the Pacific Division.
The Blues ended a string of 11 straight losses at Staples Center, including five in the postseason. This was their first win over the Kings in Los Angeles since March 17, 2011.
Elliott has posted only two victories since winning his first four starts of the season from Oct. 8-18. He got a huge break 12 minutes into the game, when Tyler Toffoli beat him to the glove side with a snap shot from close range and hit the right post during a power play.
Los Angeles was outshooting the Blues 22-8 when defenseman Brayden McNabb received a 5-minute charging major and a game misconduct for his hit on Magnus Paajjarvi along the right boards in the neutral zone with 12:01 left in the third period and the score tied.
Kings coach Darryl Sutter was furious after the call, but his team weathered the storm — and even had a short-handed breakaway by Jeff Carter that was stopped by Elliott.
The Kings opened the scoring at 9:54 of the second period. Milan Lucic dug the pug out from behind the net after fighting off a check from Colton Parayko, then set up Kopitar for a short backhander over Elliott's glove after deking him to the ice.
The Blues managed only four shots on net through the first 32:18 after getting outshot 19-2 in the third period at Anaheim. None of their defensemen had one until Pietrangelo beat Jonathan Quick to the stick side with a short wrist shot from the left circle at 12:37 of the second for his third goal of the season.
Quick went behind his net to clear the puck about 7 1/2 minutes into the opening period, and Alexander Steen knocked him down while trying to get around him. Steen received a penalty for goalie interference, but the Kings came up empty on that power play — as well as the other three they had.
NOTES: Jordan Binnington, who has yet to play in an NHL game, served as Elliott's backup after getting promoted from Chicago of the AHL. Jake Allen, who beat the Kings 3-0 with 33 saves on Nov. 3 at St. Louis, left Friday night's game in Anaheim with a lower body injury after Corey Perry collided with him in the crease. ... The Blues' next victory will make Ken Hitchcock the sixth coach in NHL history to win at least 200 regular-season games with two different clubs. That list includes Scotty Bowman, Dick Irvin, Jacques Lemaire, Joel Quenneville and Dave Tippett. Hitchcock had 277 wins with Dallas. ... Kings D Alec Martinez the overtime hero of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs with series-clinching goals against the Blackhawks and Rangers, played in his 300th regular-season game. ... Kopitar has only three goals in his last 17 games, but has 14 assists during that stretch.
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