Jonathan Bernier was solid with 21 saves in just his second start of the season for the Kings. Los Angeles outscored the Blues, 15-6, while eliminating them in five games in the second round of the playoffs last spring en route to the Stanley Cup finals.
Carter tapped in a backhander on a break-in with Slava Voynov at 8:31 of the first period, just the Kings' fifth first-period goal of the season, then got behind defenseman Ian Cole for his sixth of the season early in the second. Davis Drewiske was wide-open in the slot off a feed from Dustin Brown and made it 3-0 in the second period.
The Kings are 89-1-10 their last 100 games when leading after two periods, and got insurance on Jarrett Stoll's second goal of the season that made it 4-1 early in the third.
Carter's last two-goal game during the regular season was March 3 against Anaheim.
In other games *
At Uniondale, N.Y., Alexander Semin netted his 200th NHL goal and Jiri Tlusty scored twice and had two assists as the Carolina Hurricanes scored four third-period goals and defeated the New York Islanders, 6-4. It was the Islanders' fifth loss in a row.
Semin got help on his milestone goal as his shot from the right-wing boards hit the helmet of Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic and caromed off the post past goalie Rick DiPietro at 5:33 of the third period.
Former Islander Tim Wallace and Jeff Skinner also had goals for the Hurricanes, who are 3-1-1 on a trip that ends Tuesday at New Jersey. Staal also had an assist to extend his point streak to eight games. Cam Ward made 24 saves.
* At Columbus, Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and an assist and the Blue Jackets had their biggest offensive output of the season against the NHL's stingiest defense in a 6-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
* At Denver, Shane Doan scored his second goal of the game with 59 seconds left in overtime to give the Phoenix Coyotes a 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche.
* At Calgary, Mikko Koivu's tiebreaking shootout goal gave the Minnesota Wild a 2-1 victory over the Flames. Nicklas Backstrom sealed the win when he stopped Alex Tanguay's backhander.
Noteworthy *
The game between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning that was postponed on Saturday because of the Northeast snowstorm has been rescheduled for Thursday, April 25, in Boston at 7:30 p.m.
