St. Louis @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 21, 2019 ) St. Louis 3, Los Angeles 4

The St. Louis Blues should be flying high when they continue their California road trip against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday after rallying for an improbable win versus Anaheim the night before. St. Louis scored twice in 12 seconds as defenseman Alex Pietrangelo capped the outburst with 52 seconds left in the third period to give the Blues a 5-4 victory that solidified their hold on third place in the Central Division and increased their cushion for a playoff spot to six points.

The Blues also got a boost Wednesday with the return of Brayden Schenn, who recorded a goal and an assist in his first game after missing six with a concussion - St. Louis went 2-3-1 in his absence - and combined with linemates Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko to record six points. Los Angeles has lost 11 of its last 12 games (1-7-4) after Tuesday's 3-1 setback against Montreal and has the lowest point total in the Western Conference and second-lowest in the league (Ottawa). The Kings haven't lost hope according to interim coach Willie Desjardins, who told reporters: "They do believe. They believe they can play better. They see guys that are around the organization that have won. And you don’t change. They have the ability to win two Cups. That’s just doesn’t happen by itself. Those guys are good leaders. I think they know.” Los Angeles won its first two meetings with the Blues this season, including a 4-3 triumph on Jan. 21 in which it handed rookie goaltending sensation Jordan Binnington one of his four losses.

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS West (Los Angeles)

ABOUT THE BLUES (35-25-6): O'Reilly on Wednesday increased his team-high point total to a career-best 65 with a goal and an assist, and recorded 23 faceoff wins to give him a league-leading 897 - or 13.6 per game. Tarasenko (team-high 27 goals, 56 points), who notched two assists against Anaheim, collected 10 goals and 20 points in the 11 games prior to Schenn's injury but only three points with his linemate out of action. Jake Allen has been reduced to playing only in back-to-back situations, so he's expected in net after Binnington (16-3-1, .929 save percentage) made 23 saves and allowed a career high-tying four goals on Wednesday but avoided losing back-to-back games for the first time thanks to his club's late surge.

ABOUT THE KINGS (24-34-8): Anze Kopitar has recorded two of his team-leading 19 goals and four of his club-best 48 points over his last three games. Matt Luff scored his eighth goal of the season after he was recalled from Ontario of the American Hockey League to replace fellow rookie Austin Wagner (nine goals, 16 points in 49 games), who missed Tuesday's contest (lower body) and remains day-to-day. Defenseman Alec Martinez (plus-4 rating in 44 games) returned Tuesday after missing eight games (upper body) and received 21 minutes, 16 seconds of ice time.

OVERTIME

1. St. Louis rookie C Robert Thomas on Wednesday recorded his first career two-goal performance, including the game-tying tally with 1:04 remaining to give him seven this season (24 points).

2. Los Angeles D Drew Doughty (team-worst minus-26) leads the league in ice time at 26:58 per game.

3. Blues LW Jaden Schwartz recorded his 300th career point on Wednesday with an assist after being kept off the scoresheet in five straight contests.

PREDICTION: Blues 3, Kings 2