After one period in St. Louis: Kings 1, Blues 1

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The opening period was fairly quiet until the last six minutes, when the Blues took two penalties and gave the Kings a five-on-three advantage. The Kings scored at 16:59, a second after the first penalty had expired, but the Blues matched that at even strength soon afterward.

Dave Scatchard was penalized for hooking at 14:58 and Nikita Nikitin followed him into the box at the 16-minute mark after firing the puck over the glass. The Kings lost control of the puck once when Ryan Smyth fell with no one near him and the puck came out of the zone, but they took the lead when Jack Johnson fired a shot from just above the right circle and past goaltender Ty Conklin.

Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar got the assists, and each extended his point-scoring streak to six games.

The Blues pulled even at 18:45 after the Kings turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Jay McClement carried it into the zone and dished it off but he managed to slip a backhander past Jonathan Quick for his fifth goal of the season.

Kings winger Justin Williams was sent off for roughing at 19:35, giving the Blues an advantage that carried over to the second period.

The Blues got some good news about prized defenseman Erik Johnson, who was injured in their game at Detroit on Wednesday. He has a slight sprain of his right knee -- the knee he had surgically repaired two years ago -- and his status is day-to-day. They were relieved because he’s a cornerstone defenseman and they’ve already had more injuries than they can handle.

More later at www.latimes.com/sports
--Helene Elliott in St. Louis