Perron’s hat trick leads rout of Kings

ST. LOUIS — David Perron had a hat trick and an assist, Jake Neighbours scored his first NHL goal, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Kings 7-3 on Saturday night.

Ivan Barbashev, Ryan O’Reilly and James Neal also scored for the Blues. Jordan Binning ton made 32 saves as St. Louis won its fourth straight game to open a season for the third time in franchise history.

Perron’s sixth career hat trick gave him five goals in his last two games.

Alex Iafallo, Dustin Brown and Carl Grundstrom scored for the Kings, who lost their fourth straight. Cal Petersen made 33 saves.

The Kings played without defenseman Drew Doughty, who has no ligament damage from a rightknee injury suffered Friday but will need more imaging, according to multiple reports.

Iafallo’s first goal of the season, off a rebound from an Alexander Edler shot, gave the Kings a 1-0 lead with 8:31 left in the first period.

Iafallo almost had another goal late in the first, but Binnington got his right pad on a backhander on a partial breakaway.

Perron evened the game with a power-play goal with 5:34 left in the first period.

Barbashev made it 2-1, scoring the Blues’ first short-handed goal of the season late in the first.

Perron’s second of the game came off a def lection of a shot by Torey Krug 45 seconds into the second period. He completed the hat trick by burying a one-timer on the power play in the third.

Brown and Grundstrom scored third-period goals for Los Angeles. Anze Kopitar’s four-game goal scoring streak was snapped.

Blues winger Brandon Saad was scratched after being placed in COVID-19 protocol. Kings defenseman Olli Maatta made his season debut.