from Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post Dispatch,

For the second time this season, the Blues lost to the worst team in the NHL _ the Los Angeles Kings. This time is was 4-3 setback in a Monday afternoon game at Staples Center.

Hardly the recipe to the get back into the playoff race.

Granted, there's not a whole lot that separates the best from the worst in the league, but the Blues have a tendency to play down to the level of their competition this season....

"Mistakes," interim coach Craig Berube said afterwards. "We made two or three mistakes that cost us and went in our net. Took too many penalties in the second period, they capitalized on one of them _ you know, 5-on-3.

"I thought we played a hard game. Competed. They competed, too. They played a good game. But we just made too many mistakes that cost us."

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Watch the game highlights below.