Los Angeles 5, Calgary 4
When: 9:00 PM ET, Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Where: Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta
Referees:
Tom Kowal, Wes McCauley
Linesmen:
John Grandt, Brian Mach
Attendance:
18438
By The Sports Xchange
CALGARY, Alberta -- The Los Angeles Kings scratched out a huge win Tuesday when another road loss appeared likely as part of a troublesome late-season slide heading to the playoffs.
Kris Versteeg jammed in the tying goal with 35 seconds remaining and Jeff Carter scored the winner on a breakaway 40 seconds into overtime to lift the Kings to a 5-4 win over the Calgary Flames.
The Kings snapped a five-game road losing streak. They are 3-7 in their past 10 games.
Milan Lucic scored twice and Andy Andreoff added a goal for the Kings.
Deryk Engelland scored with just over four minutes left in the third period to give the Flames a 4-3 lead. Mickael Backlund, Hunter Shinkaruk and Mark Giordano also had goals for Calgary.
The Kings are tied with the Anaheim Ducks in the battle for first place in the Western Conference's Pacific Division. Anaheim lost 2-1 in overtime to Winnipeg on Tuesday, leaving both the Ducks and Kings
at 99 points.
"I think they got crossed up a bit at the blue line there," said Carter, explaining his goal.
"I think (Flames' Sean Monahan) fumbled the puck and I just jumped on it. It's one of those plays where I made a read and either it's going to work out or they're going back 3-on-2 on our net. Luckily it did.
"Not our greatest game, but this time of year we'll take two points and a win and go back home and try to finish out the season strong."
It was the Kings' final road game of the regular season. They face the Ducks at home on Thursday and the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday to close out their schedule.
"Wins haven't come easy for us on the road lately, so it took all the way to the end to get it into overtime and the first shift of overtime we make it count, so it's nice to get a win," Lucic said. "We can take positive energy from this win and take it into the last two games of the season."
Kings coach Darryl Sutter wanted it noted his team set a franchise record for wins.
"You get 47 wins in a year and your goal going into the year is to try and get 100 points and we're that close. That's pretty good for a team that didn't make the playoffs last year," he said.
Calgary will not be in the playoffs and has a home game against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday and a road game in Minnesota on Saturday to end its season.
Other than the ending, the Flames were happy with their effort.
"The first 10 minutes I think was a little bit in their favor, but once the 10-minute mark came, I think we started pushing back a little bit and playing a little bit," said Engelland.
"From that point on, I think we had a pretty solid game overall. To come up with a loss is a little bit of a heart-breaker, but overall I think that it was a pretty solid game."
Giordano and Andreoff exchanged goals quickly in the third period. Giordano snapped home a power-play goal 33 seconds into the period and Andreoff scored on a backhander at 1:05.
"Those are ones you don't want to accept," Giordano said. "You don't want to accept losing those ones late."
Backlund opened the scoring at 3:41 of the first period when his centering pass from behind the net went in off Anze Kopitar's skate. It was only one of four shots the Flames mustered in the opening 20
minutes as they were outshot 12-4.
Kopitar was involved in tying the score at 9:53 of the first period. He was stopped on a rush, but Lucic was following the play and snapped the loose puck through Joni Ortio's pads from the left faceoff circle.
Lucic knocked a rebound into an open net to give the Kings a 2-1 lead 14 seconds into the second period. Shinkaruk banged in a rebound to tie the score at 15:51.
NOTES: Flames LW and Calgary native Hunter Shinkaruk made his Saddledome debut Tuesday. Shinkaruk was acquired in a Feb. 22 trade with Vancouver and was recalled from AHL Stockton on March 28. "It was cool (this morning) to have these colors on and skating around the Dome," Shinkaruk said. ... Flames captain Mark Giordano's goal and assist gives him 300 points in his 590-game NHL career. ... The Kings summoned D Kevin Gravel from AHL Ontario on Sunday to fill in for D Alec Martinez (undisclosed injury), who missed a second straight game Monday. ... Other Kings scratches included D Rob Scuderi, LW Kyle Clifford and C Nic Dowd. ... Calgary's scratches were D Dennis Wideman, RW Michael Frolik and G Niklas Backstrom. ... Kings coach Darryl Sutter coached his 1,200th game Sunday in Vancouver, becoming the 15th coach in league history to do so.
Top Game Performances
Los Angeles |
|
Calgary |
Milan Lucic 2 |
Points |
Deryk Engelland 2 |
Milan Lucic 2 |
Goals |
Deryk Engelland 1 |
Anze Kopitar 2 |
Assists |
Joe Colborne 2 |
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Mark Giordano 1 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Jhonas Enroth .826 |
Save Percentage |
Joni Ortio .808 |
Jhonas Enroth 19 |
Saves |
Joni Ortio 21 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Los Angeles
|
26 |
5 |
0-3 |
3-4 |
8 |
29 |
Calgary
|
23 |
4 |
1-4 |
3-3 |
6 |
35 |
Upcoming Games
-
Calgary will play their next game at home against Vancouver. The Flames have a W/L % of .394 after a win and .426 after a loss.
-
Los Angeles will play their next game at home against Anaheim. The Kings have a W/L % of .532 after a win and .667 after a loss.