Kings edge Blues in OT to move back into playoff position

LOS ANGELES — There might not have been much superficial beauty to it, but the Kings dug deep for a rare home win that put them back into a playoff spot, topping the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 in overtime, on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Adrian Kempe scored in regulation before Trevor Moore secured a second point in OT with a jaw-dropping individual effort. Anton Forsberg was resplendent in net, making 23 saves.

Robert Thomas recorded the lone St. Louis goal, and Jordan Binnington stopped 24 shots.

The Kings (30-26-18, 78 points) got their 11th home win of the campaign on April 1, a feat they achieved on Dec. 28 last season. They vaulted back into the final wild-card slot in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Nashville Predators (34-31-9), whom they will host on Thursday night and again on Monday.

“We’ve got to push now. And here comes a team tomorrow that’s playing just as good as (the Blues) are and just as physical with just as little room,” Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said. “We’ve got to be ready, when that puck drops, to do it one more time.”

The Kings had taken both of the previous meetings in St. Louis (31-31-12, 74 points) this season, with each affair also exceeding the allotted 60 minutes.

Wednesday, they swept the season series from a Blues team that came into the game as the West’s best performer since the Olympic break by points, points percentage, goal differential and goals-against average. Meanwhile, the Kings placed in the bottom 10 in each of those categories since the pause.

They had been particularly poor at home. Dating to right after their consecutive quality wins over the Minnesota Wild, they had gone 3-8-4 before Wednesday. That tied the last-in-the-league Vancouver Canucks for the fewest points at home since Jan. 5, a period  that also saw them allow the second-most goals per game while scoring the fourth fewest and turning in the worst penalty-kill percentage in the NHL at home.

They were 3 for 3 while shorthanded on Wednesday.

“Every team has a lot of skilled players on their power play, so the details can’t slip. Tonight, I thought we played, basically, perfect,” Forsberg said.

Elsewhere, the San Jose Sharks upended the Ducks with two goals in the final two minutes, staying a point behind the Kings (with a game in hand) in a crowded field of playoff aspirants – it also includes St. Louis, Nashville, the Seattle Kraken and the Winnipeg Jets – with just over two weeks left in the regular season.

In overtime, the Blues nearly ended it early but their missed opportunity became a breakaway for Kempe, who was stoned by Binnington.

Then, 1:56 into the bonus scene, Moore, fresh off the bench, did his best Nathan MacKinnon impersonation as he exploded across three zones and finished with a far-side snipe.

“That’s an outrageous comparison,” Moore said of the parallel with this season’s first 50-goal scorer. “Kopi made a play on the wall, and I thought maybe I might have a step on (Jonathan Berggen), so I just put my head down and went for it.”

Despite early pep from the hosts in the third period, the visitors made a successful push that knotted the score with 3:53 remaining in regulation. Thomas won an offensive-zone draw to get things going and later directed Philip Broberg’s shot home with his skate to give the Blues at least a point in 14 of their 17 games since the break.

“(We were) trying to pick our corners too much and missing the net. Once we started hitting it and creating chaos, we were able to find one at the end,” said Thomas, adding that the game contest was congested and competitive.

Nearly two periods passed without a goal – the Blues dominated the first frame analytically with the Kings reversing their fortunes in the second, when they had a goal wiped away for goaltender interference – until the Kings cashed in on the power play.

With 3:01 displayed on the clock, the Kings finished a sequence with the extra man that started with some aggression from Anže Kopitar to control the faceoff. Artemi Panarin and Alex Laferriere exchanged the puck before Laferriere made a blind backhand pass to Kempe at the back post, where he swiftly swept in his team-leading 29th goal.

“There has to be a level of urgency at this time of year, and, especially in our building, we just haven’t had enough. I didn’t think the first period was indicative of what I think of our hockey team,” Smith said. “If you want to make the playoffs and win games at home, you’ve got to be willing to check and fight for every puck. In the second and third period, we did that.”