Postgame/Rank the Players: Kings Stifle Blues, Lose

St. Louis hangs on for 65 minutes and wins in Round 7 of the shootout.

Oh, man, I am so glad we don't have to deal with shootout frustration as much as we used to.

Oh well, go ahead and vote on the players' performance tonight! After 40-ish games of voting this might be one of the tougher ones to judge, but I believe in you.

Best Hockey Players of All Time

Let's be honest, this was a disappointing point. The Blues were on a back-to-back, missing a bunch of guys, and took nine shots in the game's first fifty minutes. All in all, aside from the finishing (and Tyler Toffoli not hitting the post up 1-0 might have taken the Blues out of it entirely), it's hard to get too worked up. I would have been worked up if the Blues had scored on their third-period five-minute power play. Brayden McNabb received only the second butt-check ejection I've ever seen -- you remember the first -- but LA suffocated St. Louis for 4:30 and held on until they got back to even strength.

More in the recap, including some sweet, sweet Anze Kopitar backhand work.