Marleau's late pair forces overtime; Kings win

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March 24, 2011

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LOS ANGELES(AP)After handing an extra point to the San Jose Sharks in the final seconds of regulation, the Los Angeles Kings made sure they didn't cost themselves one as well.Captain Dustin Brown scored in the fifth round of the shootout after getting two power-play goals, and the Kings beat the Pacific Division-leading Sharks 4-3 on Thursday night to end San Jose's four-game winning streak."It's nice to score some goals for this team," Brown said. "That's the spark we needed on the power play. But we need to tighten up defensively. There's no way we can give up that goal to them. Those are the type of plays that'll come back to haunt you."Patrick Marleau scored the tying goal for the Sharks twice in the final 3:32 of the third period, getting his second with just 4.1 seconds on the clock after Brown's 25th goal put the Kings back in front with 1:42 remaining in regulation."I'm not disappointed and I'm not surprised that stuff like that happens," Kings coach Terry Murray said. "I'm watching games in this league right now, and it is incredible what has been happening late in games. We would love to have it shut down when you have a faceoff with 11 seconds left. But they've got some very good players and got the bounce that they needed."Los Angeles remained tied with Nashville for fifth place in the Western conference, three points behind Phoenix and five behind San Jose. The Kings have eight games remaining, including a rematch with the Sharks on April 4 at San Jose.
RELATED: NHL conference standings"That's the one disappointing thing about this game - we had a lead with 11 seconds left and they got a point out of it," goalie Jonathan Quick said. "We want to win this division. We know we're capable of doing it, and it's unfortunate that they got a point out of it. But the good thing is we got two out of it."Joe Pavelski scored a power-play goal for the Sharks, who tied Central Division-leading Detroit for second place in the conference with the consolation point.Defenseman Willie Mitchell scored for the Kings, Alec Martinez had two assists and Quick finished with 24 saves, improving to 9-0 in shootouts this season and 21-7 for his career.On Marleau's first goal, Quick fanned on his seemingly harmless wrist shot from the top of the left circle. On the second, Marleau jammed his 33rd of the season inside the right post after a slick passing play from rookie Logan Couture to Ryane Clowe to Marleau after the Kings failed to clear the puck out of the zone."Patty's really played well lately and he's scored big goals for our team," coach Todd McLellan said. "I thought that even from the beginning of the game, he showed up to play. But I thought we were missing some players early. You can't win at this time of the year with only 12 or 13, and the rest only watching or gliding along."Stoll scored the Kings' first goal of the tiebreaker, making him 8 for 9 this season and tying it after Dan Boyle scored on the Sharks' first attempt. The game ended when Marleau, the Sharks' fifth shooter, lost the puck off his stick as he came in on Quick.Los Angeles was playing its first game since right wing Justin Williams dislocated his shoulder on Monday in a 2-1 shootout win against Calgary. The 12-year veteran, who signed a four-year, 14.6 contract extension on Feb. 28, had played in each of the team's first 73 games and had 22 goals and 57 points.Mitchell put the Kings ahead 2-1 at 9:07 of the second period on a 45-foot slap shot from the slot that beat Niemi to the glove side.
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Pavelski, who has three goals and nine assists in his last four games, opened the scoring 35 seconds into the second period while Jarret Stoll was serving a slashing penalty that carried over from the final minute of the first.Marleau had the puck at the left point and threw it toward the circle, where Pavelski redirected it past Quick's stick from about 15 feet away. His 17th goal ended the Kings' string of 35 successful penalty kills spanning 643 minutes and 27 seconds since Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk capitalized on a hooking penalty against Stoll on Feb. 28.The Sharks, who were short-handed four times over their previous three games, had to use their penalty-killing unit five times against Los Angeles. The Kings were 0 for 10 on the power play against San Jose this season before Brown tied it at 1 at 7:18 of the second while Jamal Mayers was serving a holding-the-stick penalty.Notes: C Oscar Moller played his fifth game for the Kings this season and first since Dec. 18. He was recalled from Manchester of the AHL to replace Williams in the lineup. ... Marleau has six goals in his last four games, including two winners. ... Thornton, who got an assist on Pavelski's goal, is six points away from 1,000 in the NHL. He has more points than any player in the league since his debut on Oct. 8, 1997, with Boston. ... Pavelski's goal made San Jose the first team this season with three players who have scored at least 10 times on the power play, including Marleau and Dany Heatley (11 each). Thornton has nine. ... The Kings drew their 31st sellout, the most they've had since the arena opened in 1999-00. They had 30 in 2003-04.

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