St. Louis, MO

Anze Kopitar scored a pair of goals to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series Monday.

The Kings jumped out to 4-0 lead after the opening period and are now in control of the series with a 2-0 lead and with both wins coming on the road.

The last time the Kings scored four goals in a period during the playoffs was May 7, 1993, against Vancouver, when they scored five goals.

The eighth-seeded Kings host the third game of the best-of-seven series set Thursday in Los Angeles.

It's a case of deja vu for the Kings in a good way after they won the first two games of their first round series against the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks on the road.

A repeat of that performance seemed unlikely when the series started considering the Blues set a franchise record during the regular season with 30 wins at home, but here the Kings are again in control with a 2-0 lead.

The Kings scored just 31 seconds into the game Monday as Dustin Penner knocked St. Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk off the puck deep in the Blues' zone before getting it to Mike Richards, who converted from in close.

Los Angeles made it a two-goal advantage while shorthanded at 14:16 when Dustin Brown, who had three assists, connected on a pass to Kopitar, who scored after a nice deke.

"Scoring 30 seconds into the game helps, but we didn't let off the gas at all," Brown said. "It was a battle after that, especially in the third period."

The Kings have won five straight road games this postseason

2012 Western Conference Semifinals

#2 St. Louis vs. #8 Los Angeles

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