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 and helped St. Louis break out of a six-game losing streak.
Mayers received an outlet pass from defenceman Jay McKee at centre 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 rallied to beat the Kings 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Johnson's fifth goal of the season came as a result of breaking in with a head of speed, curling the puck around a sliding Anze Kopitar before beating Kings goalie Erik Ersberg with 6:54 remaining to help the Blues snap out of a 0-5-1 skid. They had just scored four goals in those six games.
"It was a great play by Jay and Jamal," Johnson said. "It's something we certainly work on in practice. Once I knew I was in with a ton of speed, I was almost just trying to slow myself down. Sometimes you get going so fast, it's tough to make a play on net. I just tried to look up, take a step and make a play to the net."
Johnson was able to slide the puck between Ersberg's pads before tumbling over the Kings netminder and crashing to the ice.
"Essentially, we're just trying to get the puck deep," Mayers said. "The reality is RJ's got such great speed that he was able to turn it into a great scoring chance. With no red line, we tried to spread them out. Teams do a good job of trying to clog up the neutral zone. Really, the only play is somehow to get it behind them."
The Hockey News: Headlines: Johnson's goal helps Blues snap six-game skid in 3-2 victory over Kings
Johnson's goal helps Blues snap six-game skid in 3-2 victory over Kings (CP) 
