ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) _ The Los Angeles Kings tried to pull off another amazing third-period comeback. The best they could do was force a shootout, and they came up empty. <br/><br/>Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Wednesday, November 14th 2007, 7:50 am
By: News On 6
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) _ The Los Angeles Kings tried to pull off another amazing third-period comeback. The best they could do was force a shootout, and they came up empty.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown in the tiebreaker, while Corey Perry and Andy McDonald scored against Jason LaBarbera to give the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks s a 4-3 victory over the Kings on Tuesday night.
``We should be satisfied with the two points,'' Giguere said. ``The last two games we've scored two goals in the shootout. I believe that when your team scores two goals in the first three shots, you should win.''
Los Angeles was coming off a 6-5 overtime victory over Dallas at home on Saturday night in which the Kings erased a 4-0 deficit with five goals in a 5:07 span of the third period.
This time, the stubborn Kings rallied to tie after falling behind 3-1. Rookie Matt Moulson scored with 15:24 to play, converting Alexander Frolov's pass from the right circle for an easy tap-in as Ryan Getzlaf left Moulson unchecked in front of the crease to go after Frolov.
``Our guys really revved it up in the third period and we had to do a lot of things right to come back in this game. We showed a lot of patience and we didn't panic,'' Kings coach Marc Crawford said. ``It's really rewarding for our guys to come back against a really good team that protects leads. Maybe they haven't done it quite as well this year as they've done in past years, but they're still a really smart club that knows how to play.''
In other NHL games, it was: Atlanta 3, Florida 2 in overtime; St. Louis 4, Detroit 3; Montreal 4, Toronto 3 in overtime; and Calgary 3, Minnesota 2.
Michael Cammalleri got the equalizer for the Kings with 6:49 left in regulation, scoring his 12th goal on a one-timer from the top of the right circle while Giguere was screened by teammate Chris Pronger and Brown. Giguere finished with 29 saves.
``We tried to stay with our game plan as much as we could,'' Getzlaf said. ``Obviously, they're a team that's pretty hot and has the ability to come back in games. But we were able to fight them off and get the two points. It's an exciting game every time we play those guys.''
Getzlaf and Kent Huskins had power-play goals for the Ducks, who began a six-game stretch in which they will face their Southern California rivals three times _ including Thursday night in Los Angeles. The teams opened the season by splitting a two-game set in London, with each team winning 4-1.
Overtime ended with Ducks captain Pronger going after Kings center Michael Handzus for taking a long slap shot at Giguere a second after the horn sounded. Pronger wouldn't let up, throwing lefts and rights at Handzus before they were separated. Each received a fighting major, and Pronger got a game misconduct _ for all the good it did.
``When you see a team as often as we do, there's going to be some bad blood,'' said Todd Marchant, who scored Anaheim's second goal.
Tom Preissing scored his first goal of the season for the Kings, Frolov had three assists and LaBarbera made 30 saves.
``You always want to get that extra point, especially against these guys, but overall we're happy with the effort,'' Cammalleri said. ``We came out pretty hard and got some chances. Maybe if we could have scored on a couple of those, it changes the face of the game. But I think it's a good sign that we were able to stick with it.''
Huskins made it 3-1, beating LaBarbera through the pads from 50 feet with a one-timer along the ice after LaBarbera's clearing attempt around the boards was intercepted by Chris Kunitz. The goal came with 17 seconds left a roughing penalty against Kings rookie defenseman Jack Johnson.
The Kings were trailing 2-0 when rookie John Zeiler caught Getzlaf with his head down near the left boards in the Los Angeles zone and leveled him. Marchant retaliated against Zeiler _ who had lost his helmet in the collision _ and received a 4-minute roughing penalty. The Kings capitalized on the ensuing power play as Preissing beat Giguere between the pads with a 30-foot wrist shot from the right circle just 13.5 seconds before the first intermission.
Blues 4, Red Wings 3
St. Louis rookie David Perron scored twice in a four-goal second period as the host Blues rallied from two down to beat Detroit.
The Blues, who snapped a three-game losing streak, fell behind 2-0 but stormed back in the middle frame against goalie Dominik Hasek. Keith Tkachuk and Jamal Mayers joined Perron in the scoring spurt, and the final three goals came in a span of four shots.
Pavel Datsyuk, Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula scored for Detroit, which dropped its second straight following a nine-game winning streak.
Thrashers 3, Panthers 2, OT
Ilya Kovalchuk scored in the first minute of overtime, 27 seconds after Marian Hossa forced the extra period with a power-play goal for host Atlanta.
Kovalchuk's NHL-leading 15th goal gave the Thrashers their fourth win in five games. The 24-year-old Russian forward has 12 points, including nine goals, in his last six games.
Florida has lost four straight and five of six.
Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 3, OT
Defenseman Mike Komisarek scored 35 seconds into overtime to lift visiting Montreal.
Canadiens rookie goalie Carey Price stopped 37 shots in his first career start against Toronto. Alex Kovalev, Andrei Kostitsyn and Andrei Markov also scored for the Canadiens, who beat the Maple Leafs for the first time in three tries (1-1-1) this season.
Kyle Wellwood had his first two goals of the season, and Boyd Devereaux also scored for the Maple Leafs, who led 3-2 in the third period.
Flames 3, Wild 2
Kristian Huselius scored the winning goal with 53 seconds remaining, and host Calgary snapped a five-game losing streak.
The Flames fell behind on two third-period goals by Mikko Koivu before rallying.
Dion Phaneuf and Jarome Iginla scored for the Flames, who won at home for the first time in four games.
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