L.A. Kings Climb Out of Last in Pacific

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The Los Angeles Kings climbed out of the Pacific Division cellar against a team they could be battling for a playoff spot later in the season. <br/><br/>Michael Cammalleri had a goal

Thursday, January 4th 2007, 6:05 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The Los Angeles Kings climbed out of the Pacific Division cellar against a team they could be battling for a playoff spot later in the season.

Michael Cammalleri had a goal and an assist and Alexander Frolov extended his scoring streak to five games with two assists in a 3-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.

Columbus is fourth in the Central Division, and Los Angeles moved one point ahead of last-place Phoenix in the Pacific. The Kings are also 12th in the Western Conference with 35 points, seven behind eighth-place Calgary and also one ahead of the Blue Jackets.

``I don't think we need to need to focus on being number eight in the playoffs right now,'' said Kings goalie Mathieu Garon, who made 26 saves for his second shutout this season. ``We just want to work our way up there, and with wins like tonight, it's going to give us a great chance.''

Cammalleri's 14th goal ended an eight-game stretch in which the Kings gave up the first goal. They had been outscored 15-3 in the first period.

``It was important for us to keep a 1-0 lead for that long,'' he said.

Cammalleri scored at even strength in the first period. Fredrik Norrena sprawled in front of the net to stop Derek Armstrong's shot, and the rebound bounced out to Cammalleri.

In the only other NHL games Wednesday night, Ottawa beat Buffalo 6-3 and Vancouver edged Dallas 2-1 in a shootout.

The Kings, who had lost two straight, scored twice in the third period on goals by Sean Avery and Lubomir Visnovsky. Frolov's 45 points lead Los Angeles.

``Defensively, we were awesome. We were disciplined and didn't take that many penalties,'' Garon said. ``At 2-0, I just wanted to get the win and the last minute I really wanted to get (the shutout).''

Visnovsky scored on a power play while digging out the rebound after Frolov's shot was stopped by Norrena.

``Because we were so strong in areas like our backcheck and clearing the pucks, we showed a lot of patience and ended up getting a lot of power-play time,'' Kings coach Marc Crawford said. ``While we only scored the one power-play goal, I think it served to really wear the other team down.''

The Blue Jackets committed three consecutive penalties between the Kings' goals in the third, including one that gave the Kings a 5-on-3 advantage, which Columbus killed.

``That's when the game turned,'' Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. ``We used our best players far too much killing penalties. That's been our nemesis the last three road games _ far too many penalties. Some of them have been lazy and not very disciplined.''

Norrena had 29 saves for Columbus, which has been shut out three times during a five-game road losing streak. The other losses came in overtime and in a shootout.

``They played a hard game and they were more desperate than we were,'' Columbus defenseman Adam Foote said. ``We talked about it coming in here, but we didn't react well in the first period. They wanted it more.''

Senators 6, Sabres 3

Dany Heatley scored three goals and set an franchise record with four points in the second period for host Ottawa.

Ray Emery made 33 saves. Tom Preissing, Peter Schaefer and Wade Redden also scored for the Senators.

Paul Gaustad, Maxim Afinogenov and Jason Pominville scored for Buffalo, which lost in regulation for just the eighth time this season and first since Dec. 19.

Canucks 2, Stars 1, SO

Ryan Kesler scored the deciding goal in the sixth round of a shootout for host Vancouver.

Kesler ended it with a backhander past goalie Marty Turco. Stu Barnes had an opportunity to send it into another round but his effort was stopped by Roberto Luongo.

Mattias Ohlund scored in the first period for Vancouver and Dallas' Loui Eriksson scored in the second to tie it.