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LOS ANGELES -- Drew Doughty had a goal and two assists, Jonathan Quick made 18 saves and the Los Angeles Kings moved to the brink of an unlikely second-round sweep with a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 3 on Thursday night. Mike Richards scored the Kings first power play goal in six games before setting up Doughtys clinching goal with 11:48 to play for the eighth-seeded Kings, who improved to 7-1 in the post-season with their third straight dominant win over second-seeded St. Louis. Los Angeles could clinch its first trip to the conference finals since 1993 in Game 4 on Sunday. Chris Stewart scored two goals and Brian Elliott stopped 18 shots in a shaky performance for the Blues, who must accomplish just the fourth comeback from an 0-3 deficit in NHL playoff history to advance. Justin Williams and rookie Dwight King also scored for Los Angeles, while Anze Kopitar had two assists in just the Kings second home playoff victory in their last eight games at Staples Center. The late-blooming Kings barely scraped into the playoffs last month, but after eliminating Presidents Trophy-winning Vancouver in the first round, they followed up two series-opening victories in St. Louis with another fundamentally sound effort in front of Quick. After 44 years in the NHL without lifting the Stanley Cup, Los Angeles is on the brink of its first conference finals since Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille propelled the Kings to their only finals appearances 19 years ago. Elliotts season-long tandem with Jaroslav Halak was wiped out by Halaks ankle injury in the first round, and Elliott hasnt looked comfortable alone in the spotlight. King, Richards and Doughty all scored on what appeared to be stoppable shots against Elliott, who dropped to 3-3 since replacing Halak while allowing nine goals on 43 shots in the last two games. Richards second-period goal snapped an 0-for-30 drought for the Kings power play, and their penalty killers kept St. Louis scoreless in 14 power plays in the series. Doughty, the Kings streaky $56 million defenceman, even added the first multipoint game of his playoff career. The Kings are 5-0 away from Staples Center in the post-season, and they attempted to retain that road momentum by creating a road trip at home. The Kings staying in a hotel across the street Wednesday night and held their game-day skate at Staples Center, a rarity during the regular season. Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter took advantage of a three-day break between home games for their two NBA co-tenants at Staples Center, the Lakers and Clippers. The Blues put Alex Pietrangelo back in their starting lineup after the star defenceman missed Game 2 with an injury resulting from King sending him into the boards hard in the series opener. Pietrangelo had an assist, but the Kings took charge of the first period shortly after captain Dustin Brown levelled Pietrangelo with a crushing hit on the boards. After several near-misses in front of Elliott early, Williams scored his 13th career playoff goal when his wide shot across the crease hit Elliotts sprawling back leg and bounced into the corner of the net, surprising even the official looking right at it. Williams, who scored the final goal of the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup finals triumph in 2006, hadnt scored in these playoffs until back-to-back goals in the past two games. Los Angeles controlled play into the second period, but Stewart evened it with a remarkable individual effort against three Kings, backhanding a shot past Quick for his first goal of the playoffs. Just 40 seconds later, Matt Greene banked a long pass off the boards to King, and the 22-year-old beat Elliott to the far post for his first career playoff goal. Los Angeles gained control again, and Richards put the Kings up 3-1 with a sharp-angled shot that somehow trickled through Elliott for his third goal of the post-season. Los Angeles power play hadnt scored since Game 2 of its first-round series with Vancouver. Until Richards goal, the Kings penalty-killers had outscored the power play 4-3 in the post-season. The Blues went roughly 10 minutes without a shot spanning the second and third periods, but Stewart trimmed the Kings lead back to one goal by diving to tap home a rare loose rebound off Quick with 15:25 to play for his second career multigoal playoff game. But Richards advanced the puck and made a drop pass to Doughty, whose fierce shot trickled underneath Elliott and rolled in. NOTES: Richards had a Gordie Howe hat trick after fighting Jamie Langenbrunner in the first period. ... Blues C Jason Arnott was scratched for the first time in the post-season. He missed practice Wednesday with a lower-body injury. ... St. Louis has rallied from an 0-2 playoff series deficit just once in 15 previous tries in franchise history. The Blues came back to beat the Minnesota North Stars in 1972 -- four years after the Blues and Kings joined the NHL. Cheap NFL Jerseys From China . Roy issued a statement on Saturday saying he will seek further treatment on the chronic pain in his knees in hopes of continuing his comeback attempt with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . He could have fooled anyone. While Luck acknowledged that he was still trying to get acclimated to a new playbook, a new locker room and new teammates, those who watched closely on Friday said the new Indianapolis Colts quarterback looked a whole lot like the one they remembered at Stanford. http://jasonhavens.org/cheap.html . After losing back-to-back games, the Kings might have been feeling some pressure coming home for Game Six, their series lead suddenly in jeopardy, but the game tilted midway through the first period when Devils right winger Steve Bernier received a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding, after he flattened Kings defenceman Rob Scuderi with a hit from behind. JOLIET, Ill. -- Brad Keselowski began the season with a bit of goofiness, posting on Twitter during a red-flag stoppage at the Daytona 500. Hes ending the year with a far more serious pursuit -- for his first Sprint Cup championship. Keselowski is off to a fine start after an impressive victory over Jimmie Johnson on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. In the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the 28-year-old Keselowski outlasted Johnson for the first Chase win of his career. Keselowski also took over the lead in the points standings for the first time. "Theres no better place to start than in the lead, right?" Keselowski said. "It feels like Round One of a heavyweight title bout. Its a 10-round bout, and Week Ones done. We might have won the round, but didnt by any means knock em out." Keselowski and his No. 2 Dodge got ahead of Johnson after a crucial pit cycle with about 35 laps remaining and led the final 26 laps in the 400-mile race. Johnson finished 3.171 seconds behind, and he said he thought Keselowski crossed a restraining line too early when exiting after that pit stop near the end. The incident was reviewed and there was no infraction called, and Johnson never made much of a run at catching Keselowski during the final laps. "He did cut up early. It did impede my progress," Johnson said. "But it didnt affect the outcome, I dont believe. The way he made quick work in traffic and stretched it out on me, Im not sure I would have held him off. At the time it messed me up, but I dont think it played an outcome in the race." All 12 of the Chase drivers finished in the top 18, with the exception of Jeff Gordon, who went into the wall with about 80 laps remaining. Gordon barely qualified for the Chase to begin with, and his championship hopes are already in serious jeopardy after his 35th-place showing Sunday. It was Keselowskis fourth victory of the season. The Michigan driver leads Johnson by three points -- and gave Penske Racing a reason to feel good after Will Powers failed bid for the IndyCar championship Saturday night in California. "Its a great day for us," owner Roger Penske said. "It cools me down a little bit after being hot last night." Kyle Busch finished fourth, the best performance of any driver not in thhe Chase.dddddddddddd Among other Chase qualifiers, defending champion Tony Stewart was sixth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was eighth, Martin Truex Jr. was ninth and Clint Bowyer was 10th. Kevin Harvick finished 12th, one spot ahead of Greg Biffle. Denny Hamlin, the top seed coming in, fell all the way to 16th in the race while low on fuel at the end, and Matt Kenseth finished 18th. Stewart is third in the standings, followed by a three-way tie among Hamlin, Kahne and Bowyer. Earnhardt is seventh, followed by Biffle, Truex, Harvick, Kenseth and Gordon -- who is 47 points behind the leader. There were only four cautions for 23 laps, the last coming when Gordon needed to return to the garage with damage to the right side of his car. He said his throttle became stuck, causing the crash. "Disappointing," said Gordon, who started the race in 19th position. "We had to fight hard to come from 19th up there in the top five, and the car was feeling good." Keselowski has finished in the top 10 in 10 of the last 11 races. He began the year poorly with a late accident at Daytona. Earlier in that race, he caused a bit of a stir when he posted on Twitter during the red flag. Afterward, NASCAR said it was OK for Keselowski to keep his cellphone in his car during events, and that all drivers were encouraged to use social media. Lately, Keselowskis driving has been drawing the attention. Hes showing the consistency and maturity needed to make a run at the title. "I just think Brad does a nice job. I think he prepares for the races, he knows what he has. He works really well with his team," Kahne said. "As far as the championship, I dont think anyone knows that until you actually win it." Johnson had won five titles in a row until last year, and it looks as if his No. 48 Chevrolet is a threat again. He won the pole this weekend and finished in the top 10 for the ninth time in 11 Cup races at Chicagoland -- although hes never won. He led 172 of the 267 laps Sunday. "We all know how good his team is," Keselowski said. "We all know how good he is, and look at the resume over the last six years. Hey, look at the resume over the last 10 years. Its impeccable. "To be racing him, whether it was for the lead or for 10th, is an accomplishment." ' ' '