Official Help Might Be on Way

After two games under the NHL’s obstruction crackdown, Coach Larry Robinson believes the Kings might actually benefit from the tighter officiating.

“It helps us because we’re not a team that really does a lot of [clutching],” Robinson said. “We [had] been trying to teach our guys to use more obstruction because everybody else had been doing it to us. If anything, it helps a team like ours because of the way we play.”

Since the Olympic break, the Kings have 13 penalties--including two for obstruction--for 26 minutes, and their opponents have combined for 19 and 46 minutes, including four obstruction calls.

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If the Kings sell out today’s game against St. Louis, it will be the first time the franchise has had three consecutive sellouts at the Great Western Forum since April 1995. The Kings will play nine of their next 11 games at home, where they are 16-8-2.

vs. St. Louis

* Noon

* Ch. 11

Site--Great Western Forum.

Radio--XTRA 690.

Records--Kings 27-20-10, Blues 30-22-8.

Season record vs. Blues--0-1-1.

Update--The Kings, who have won six in a row at home, are 10-1-2 over their last 13 games and are 21-1-2 when they score first. St. Louis has a 6-2-2 edge over the Kings the last three seasons but may be without goaltender Grant Fuhr, who suffered a knee injury in a 3-1 loss at San Jose on Thursday. Geoff Courtnall leads St. Louis with 23 goals and 44 points.