Blues head into trade deadline with 3-2 shootout win in Los Angeles

Matthew DeFranks, Los Angeles Times on Mar 6, 2025

Published in Hockey

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LOS ANGELES -- And now they wait.

The Blues players are done making their case to management about what to do before Friday's trade deadline. With a 3-2 shootout win over the Kings on Wednesday night, the Blues finished their pre-deadline schedule one point behind the Flames for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Robert Thomas scored the game-deciding goal for St. Louis in the third round of the shootout.

Jake Neighbours and Thomas scored for the Blues, while Quinton Byfield and Trevor Moore tallied for the Kings.

It was the second of three meetings between the Blues and Kings in an eight-day span, as St. Louis beat Los Angeles 4-1 on Saturday at Enterprise Center, and the two teams will also meet in three days again at crypto.com Arena.

The Kings entered the night 19-3-3 at home, and more than six weeks removed from their last regulation loss in Los Angeles.

“They’re unbelieveable at home, and they’re below .500 on the road,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said before the game. “So we expect to see the best version of the Kings tonight. We’ve got to be ready for it."

The trade deadline is Friday at 2 p.m. CT, and the Blues will visit the Ducks late that evening.

With style

Neighbours gave the Blues a 1-0 lead with 1:10 remaining in the first period when he flew down the right wing and squeezed a backhand through Darcy Kuemper on the near post. Colton Parayko broke up a Kings play in the neutral zone, and then pushed the puck up the boards past Joel Edmundson to Neighbours.

Neighbours looked off Pavel Buchnevich driving to the net, and finished around a sliding Drew Doughty for his 16th goal of the season. After going 10 games without a goal, Neighbours has three in his last five games.

The Kings responded quickly, though.

Byfield needed just 32 seconds to tie the game at 1 with a shot from the slot that beat Jordan Binnington on the far side. It was Byfield's 12th goal of the season.

An unlucky bounce

Moore scored at 10:14 of the second period to give the Kings a 2-1 lead with a fluky goal that caromed off Binnington's right skate and into the net. After Mikey Anderson dumped the puck behind the Blues net, Binnington lost track of where it went, and it clipped Moore's stick before slipping into the net.

The Blues tied the game at 2 when Thomas cashed in on the power play with 46.3 seconds remaining in the second period. Thomas won a faceoff back to Cam Fowler, who found Buchnevich low in the zone. Buchnevich flipped a saucer pass to Thomas, who had become lost int he slot for his 17th goal.

St. Louis was put on the power play when Nathan Walker drew a roughing penalty in front of the Blues bench. Walker finished his check on Kevin Fiala, causing Fiala to punch Walker. Thomas scored eight seconds later.

The Thomas goal came on the Blues' fourth power play of the night, and after the Blues were 0 for 3 in their first three tries. The Blues shifted their units around for the third power play, and again for the fourth one. When Thomas scored, he was on the ice with Buchnevich, Jordan Kyrou, Dylan Holloway and Fowler.

Thomas extended his point streak to 11 games with the goal. He hasn't been pointless since the Blues were shutout on Jan. 31 in Colorado.