Kings losing streak hits five

ST. LOUIS -- It appeared to be a simple play.

It was also the one that Ryan Johnson and Jamal Mayers work on all the time that produced the winning goal for the Blues as they rallied to beat the Kings, 3-2, on Tuesday night.

It was the Kings’ fifth straight loss and seventh in eight games.

Mayers received an outlet pass from defenseman Jay McKee at center ice, tipped the puck to Johnson, who was able to race in along the right side and score the only goal of the third period as the Blues ended a six-game losing streak.

Johnson’s fifth goal of the season came as a result of curling the puck around a sliding Anze Kopitar before beating Kings goaltender Erik Ersberg with 6:54 left.

“It was a great play by Jay and Jamal,” Johnson said. “It’s something we certainly work on in practice.”

The Blues also got goals from Andy McDonald and Keith Tkachuk. Manny Legace kicked out 30 shots for the victory.

“It was very spirited. You knew it was going to be a tight game,” Kings Coach Marc Crawford said. “And it was a very tight game. But they got the breaks from the officials tonight on the calls, and that ended up being the difference in the game.”

The Kings got goals from Alexander Frolov and Dustin Brown. They had a chance to tie it late with a six-on-three man advantage after pulling the goalie but couldn’t get the equalizer.

Their best chance came on a slap shot from Michael Cammalleri from the top of the right circle that Legace was able to kick out.

“I saw it the whole way,” Legace said. “I didn’t see the second [shot] where it went over the net. I thank the good guy upstairs because I didn’t see that one. I was just going down praying that it would hit me in the head or something.”

McDonald quickly gave the Blues a 1-0 lead when he banged home a centering feed from Paul Kariya just 1:40 into the game, McDonald’s 13th of the season.

The Kings would tie it in the first period as Frolov collected a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Legace with 47.4 seconds to play in the period for his 20th of the season and fifth goal in three games against St. Louis this season.

Brown gave the Kings a 2-1 lead 4:02 into the second period, snapping a shot from the left circle that squirted past Legace at the near post.

Ersberg made his third start of the season as the Kings have been ravaged by injuries to their goalies.