The St. Louis Blues, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, are hosting the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings, fresh off upsetting the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks, in the conference semifinals on Saturday night. The Blues came out with early energy, trying to avoid the same fate as the Canucks, and got on the board first, but the Kings answered.
NHL Western Conference Semifinals, Kings Vs. Blues: St. Louis Strikes First, L.A. Answers
The Blues got an early power play after Mike Richards was given two minutes for cross-checking, but couldn't capitalize as the Kings had a nice penalty kill, diverting the threat. Six minutes later, David Perron broke through, putting one by Jonathan Quick. The Blues had three takeaways to the Kings' none, but couldn't manage more than that single goal despite having the clear advantage in the game.
Late in the period, however, just a couple minutes before halftime, Kings defender Slava Voynov got behind the Blues' defense on a beautiful feed from Dustin Penner to equalize the game. Now it doesn't matter how well the Blues played in that period, it's a brand new game for the next 40 minutes.
For more on the Kings, check out Jewels From The Crown, Battle Of California and SB Nation Los Angeles. For more on the Blues, head over to St. Louis Game Time.
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