Blues score four in first, defeat Kings for sixth straight victory

LOS ANGELES -- The St. Louis Blues extended the longest active winning streak in the NHL to six games with a 4-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Monday.

Brayden Schenn scored two goals for the Blues (24-8-6), who have won 10 of 13 heading into the Christmas break.
"It's crazy what a little bit of winning and confidence can do to a hockey team and, you know, obviously we're feeling it as a group right now," Schenn said. "We believe in one another coming to the rink. Like I said, we had some success early again this year and now we're just trying to roll with it."
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Kings highlights]
Jordan Binnington made 29 saves in his first start since Dec. 16 against the Colorado Avalanche.
Alex Iafallo scored, and Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for the Kings (15-20-4), who have lost their past two games following a season-high six-game point streak (4-0-2).
"We weren't ready. I think that was pretty evident," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "There's times where you come home from a trip and you're a little bit concerned. Certainly with the break lingering also there was concern there, and my concern showed up."
The Blues scored four goals in the opening 12:21 of the first period, starting when Schenn's shot from the slot deflected off Nikolai Prokhorkin's stick and went between Quick's legs for a 1-0 lead at 4:51.
Jaden Schwartz made it 2-0 at 5:43 when he tipped Alex Pietrangelo's shot seven seconds into the Blues' first power play.

It was Schwartz's sixth power-play goal this season, and being in position to capitalize on Pietrangelo's shot has been a big part of that success.
"I guess I'll just keep shooting, he'll just keep getting in the way," a smiling Pietrangelo said. "Whatever. It works."
Vince Dunn scored his sixth goal at 11:22 to extend the lead to 3-0. Dunn also had an assist for his first multipoint game of the season.
Schenn scored on the power play at 12:21 to make it 4-0. It was his 17th goal, giving him as many goals in 38 games this season as he had in 72 games last season.
It was also his fifth point in the past three games (three goals, two assists).
The Blues needed a combined 33 seconds to score on their two power-play chances, which Pietrangelo said is the result of a more aggressive approach.
"Yeah, we've talked about trying to shoot a little bit more off draws and at the start of the power play," said Pietrangelo, who had two assists. "I wish it was that easy every time."

Iafallo tipped Drew Doughty's shot from the point at 18:53 for the 4-1 final. It was Doughty's 492nd NHL point, putting him two behind Rob Blake for most points by a Kings defenseman.
Kings forward Anze Kopitar said the first period was the end result of bad habits that started to emerge at the end of their six-game road trip.
"The first one, just everything came together," Kopitar said. "Didn't make a play, we were sitting back. We weren't aggressive. PK was not up to par, obviously."

They said it

"I think, obviously, this time of year it could be easy to get distracted knowing a couple days off coming up here, but it was big for us to start well and kind of get our legs underneath us. We did exactly that." -- Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo
"I still think we could have come out of the game better had we just been responsible. Lack of a good start and lack of responsibility in two face-off situations and chase it all night against the Stanley Cup champs, that's what you get." -- Kings coach Todd McLellan

Need to know

The Blues are 16-0-4 when scoring first. St. Louis has not lost in regulation when leading after the first period (9-0-4). … The Blues have won eight straight against the Western Conference. … Blues forward David Perron had two assists, giving him seven points (three goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak. … Schwartz has six points (two goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak. … Blues forward Ryan O'Reilly had his five-game point streak end. … Kings forward Adrian Kempe had his streak of three straight games with a goal end. He had scored in three games in a row twice before in the NHL.

What's next

Blues: At the Winnipeg Jets on Friday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Kings: At the San Jose Sharks on Friday (10 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, NBCSCA, FS-W, NHL.TV)