The St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings have gotten to know each other well over the past week.On Saturday, the teams will meet — in Los Angeles — for the third time in eight days and the final time in the regular season.The Blues won the first two games against the Kings, including a 3-2 shootout victory on Wednesday in Los Angeles.St. Louis has won six of its last seven games and enters Saturday just one point behind the Vancouver Canucks for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.Los Angeles sits third in the Pacific Division, five points shy of the Edmonton Oilers for second place. However, the Kings have lost five straight, earning just two points (0-3-2) in that span.Scoring has been an issue for the Kings all season. They are 23rd in the league by averaging 2.8 goals per game. The power-play units are the third-worst, converting on just 15 percent of their opportunities this season.The Kings went without scoring on the man advantage in the nine games (0-for-14) leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off break last month. In the seven games since, they’ve scored on three of 17 chances.To address that issue, the team acquired forward Andrei Kuzmenko from the Philadelphia Flyers just before Friday’s trade deadline.After scoring 39 goals in 81 games for Vancouver in the 2022-23 season, the Russian has seen his production taper severely. He had 22 goals last season in splitting time with Vancouver and Calgary. This season, he has only six in 44 games between the Flames and Flyers. Of his 67 career goals, 26 have been on the power play.
Blues bid to continue ascent in rematch vs. reeling Kings

The St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings have gotten to know each other well over the past week.On Saturday, the teams will meet -- in Los Angeles -- for the third time in eight days and the final t