Kings’ party has sad ending

Just when fans were poised to send King rookie goaltender Jonathan Bernier an instant message -- buy, not rent, and let teammates Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown have their own rooms -- something disrupted that pleasant thought.

Oh, that bothersome third period.

Those final 20 minutes got in the way and so did the disruptive Blues, getting in Bernier’s path in every way possible, erasing a two-goal deficit in the first six minutes. That wasn’t the end of angst as the Kings thoroughly unraveled defensively in the Blues’ 5-3 victory Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 18,118.

The game-winner came from Blues rookie defenseman Erik Johnson at 12:43 of the third period, scoring on a one-timer from the top of the left circle. Bernier, the youngest player on the Kings roster, appeared to be screened on the play. Johnson, from the University of Minnesota, scored his first career goal, coming on the power play with Kings defenseman Jaroslav Modry off for slashing.

And with it went the air of expectation surrounding Kings’ home opener rushing out of Staples Center and all the clever plot lines vanished, including Brady Murray’s chance to get a win against his father, Andy, the Blues coach and former Kings coach.

The sum total of third-period damage: Four St. Louis goals, including three goals on four shots, turning what had been a 3-1 Kings lead into a Blues lead and ultimate victory, their first of the season.

Bernier, suffering his first loss, was under siege in the third. “I guess we had the game and just lost it,” he said. “They out-battled us.”

The game had an odd bookend quality with the Kings looking unsettled early and then reverting to that form in the third period, mustering a mere four shots on goal in the final 20 minutes.

But in between there was offensive brilliance before the third-period collapse. Kopitar had three assists, Brown scored two goals, for his fourth career two-goal game, and added an assist, and Michael Cammalleri scored his fourth goal of the season and had an assist.

The Blues had to deal with their share of issues, needing to make a goaltending switch with about seven minutes remaining in the second period, pulling starter Manny Legace for Hannu Toivonen. Legace faced 16 shots and made 14 saves. Legace left the game because of a tweaked right knee. He had surgery on the knee in February.

As for the Kings, there were worrisome signs early before the offensive surge started with Brown’s goal at 14:20 of the first period, having been set up by a burst of speed by Kopitar on the right wing.

The youngsters looked slightly unsettled in the early going, not surprising considering the usual extra edge of excitement surrounding a home opener.

Kings defenseman Rob Blake noted that after the first period and predicted the kids would settle down.

Unfortunately, for the Kings, the rules haven’t been changed. It is still a 60-minute game.

“A 3-1 lead, you’ve got to protect that,” Blake said. “We got ourselves in penalty trouble. Then we didn’t kill the penalties we needed to. Kind of similar to what happened last year. He [Bernier] played great for us. This is our fault.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com