SPORTS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014 LA Kings erase deficit, move past Blues 6-4

LOS ANGELES: Shortly after the Los Angeles Kings gave up and five of a possible six points without their captain. They Washington that set an NHL record by going 20 shootout their eighth consecutive to St. Louis over the last two have won six of nine. Comeau’s goal was his 11th of the sea- rounds. Nick Bjugstad scored the winning tally in the shootout games, the defending Stanley Cup champions finally gathered son. He tapped the winner past goalie Calvin Pickard after of that game but missed against Philadelphia. This one took themselves and answered back. Martin Brodeur and the Blues Evgeni Malkin deflected Rob Scuderi’s shot from the point in six rounds as only Pirri and Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek were overwhelmed by the response. Anze Kopitar had a career- front. Pickard stopped 47 shots for the Avalanche, who lost for scored in the three regulation rounds of the shootout. After high five points, Jake Muzzin scored the tiebreaking power-play the sixth time in seven games. Bolland beat Steve Mason, Roberto Luongo stopped Sean goal with 11:02 to play, and the Kings rallied from an early Couturier to send the Panthers to the win. Florida improved to three-goal deficit for a 6-4 victory Thursday night. HURRICANES 4, MAPLE LEAFS 1 4-4 in shootouts while Philadelphia dropped to 0-5. Scottie “Some teams would probably pack it in after the 3-0 (deficit), Justin Faulk had a goal and an assist, and Eastern Upshall scored in regulation for Florida. Voracek had but not this team,” said Kopitar, who had a goal and four Conference-worst Carolina broke a six-game losing streak with Philadelphia’s goal. assists. “We have a lot of character. We have a lot of guys that a win over previously surging Toronto. The Hurricanes (9-19-3), care about each other and like playing for each other.” who entered with the NHL’s worst record, had scored only one DUCKS 2, CANADIENS 1 Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist, while Jeff Carter goal in each game of their skid. Their offensive outburst Matt Beleskey scored the tiebreaking goal in the third peri- had a goal and three assists as the champs avenged a 5-2 loss in snapped the Maple Leafs’ six-game winning streak. od to lead Anaheim over Montreal in a game the host St. Louis on Tuesday with just their second win in seven games. Chris Terry, Andrej Sekera, and Elias Lindholm also scored Canadiens lost top scorer Max Pacioretty to an injury. Hampus The Kings limped home from a 1-3-1 road trip and played an for Carolina. Nathan Gerbe and Eric Staal both had two assists. Lindholm also scored for Anaheim and Frederik Andersen ugly first period - but just as they’ve done in the last three post- The Hurricanes are 19-7-1 against the Maple Leafs in the last 27 made 23 saves for his 18th win. David Desharnais scored for seasons, they remained masters of raising their game when meetings. Dion Phaneuf scored for Toronto. Cam Ward had 25 Montreal, and Carey Price stopped 21 shots. Pacioretty left the absolutely necessary. saves for Carolina. Toronto’s Jonathan Bernier stopped 33 game 4 minutes into the third period after taking a late hit “There was no question we thought we could come back,” shots. into the boards from Anaheim’s Clayton Stoner. Pacioretty Gaborik said. “We thought we had a chance always. It feels like the playoffs - two big, heavy-duty teams playing each other like that.” Dwight King also scored from mid-ice with 7:54 left on a bizarre bounce over Brodeur, capping a rough third start for St. Louis by the NHL’s career victories leader. David Backes, Dmitrij Jaskin and Kevin Shattenkirk scored in a 2:48 span of the first period for the Blues, whose five-game winning streak ended. Jori Lehtera also scored for St. Louis, which hadn’t allowed more than four goals in a game this sea- son. “We were careless at times, and that’s a big part of it,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We did a really poor job of manag- ing the puck as the game went on, so we turned it into a track meet.” After Carter tied it with his first goal in 14 games, Muzzin put the Kings ahead with a wicked wrist shot just underneath Brodeur’s crossbar. King then padded the lead with a dump-in shot that inexplicably leaped over Brodeur’s shoulder. “I knew it was going to be a bad bounce, so I wanted to cov- er the low part of the net,” Brodeur said. “But I didn’t expect that thing to go right over my head. It was almost like a lacrosse ball. It kind of gained speed on the second bounce. It never hap- pened to me before.” Brodeur returned to St. Louis’ net for the first time since Dec. 8, facing Jonathan Quick in a matchup of two goalies with a combined five Stanley Cup championships, six Jennings Trophies, four Vezina Trophies, three Olympic medals, a Conn Smythe Trophy and 158 NHL playoff victories. Brodeur and Quick both were shredded, yet each also made a handful of highlight-reel saves in the third period of a wide- open game. Quick made 24 saves, and Brodeur stopped 31 shots. St. Louis swiftly seized a 3-0 lead starting with Backes’ adroit deflection on a power play for his eighth goal. “It was good and MONTREAL: David Desharnais No 51 of the shoots the puck in front of Clayton Stoner No 3 bad to get that lead,” Brodeur said. “I think when you come in of the Anaheim Ducks during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on Thursday in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. —AFP from a long road trip like the Kings did, they took their medi- cine. But then they really picked up their game, played physical CAPITALS 5, BLUE JACKETS 4, OT spent several seconds on his knees before being helped to and created a lot of offense.” Eric Fehr scored 42 seconds into overtime to lead the dressing room. With P.K. Subban just stepping out of the Kopitar scored just his second goal in 15 games on a setup Washington over Columbus. The Capitals extended their point box, Beleskey got the go-ahead score - his team-lead- from Gaborik, who tied it later in the second period with his sec- streak to seven games and snapped the Blue Jackets’ winning ing 15th goal - by beating Price at 8:33 of the third period. ond power-play rebound goal - his fifth goal in three games. streak at seven. Joel Ward, Jason Chimera, Karl Alzner and Troy St. Louis went back ahead just 36 seconds later when Brouwer also scored for the Capitals, 5-0-2 in their last seven SHARKS 4, OILERS 3 Lehtera flipped a soft backhand past Quick for just his first goal games - including a 20-round shootout loss at Florida on Matt Tennyson and Barclay Goodrow scored within 34 sec- in 15 games since Nov. 15. Tuesday. Braden Holtby had 22 saves. Nick Foligno had two onds of each other midway through the third period to lift goals and an assist, Michael Chaput scored his first NHL goal, San Jose Sharks over Edmonton. PITTSBURGH 1, COLORADO 0 and Jack Johnson also tallied for the Blue Jackets, who fell one Logan Couture and James Sheppard also scored for the Blake Comeau scored 2:24 into overtime to give the short of tying the team’s longest winning streak. Bobrovsky Sharks, who won their season-best fourth straight and a 1-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche stopped 31 shots. Columbus went past regulation for the fifth eight of nine overall. Steven Pinizzotto and Ryan Nugent- on Thursday night. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots, regis- straight game and for the sixth time in seven. Hopkins scored a couple of minutes apart in the second tering his sixth shutout of the season just hours after the period to give the offensively challenged Oilers a 3-2 lead. Penguins thought their starting goalie had the mumps. PANTHERS 2, FLYERS 1, SO Boyd Gordon, in his first game since returning from a back Fleury, who recorded his 34th NHL shutout, was tested after Dave Bolland scored the winning goal in the shootout to injury, also scored. Edmonton scored three goals for the missing Wednesday’s practice with an illness, but the results lead Florida over Philadelphia. Brandon Pirri also had a goal in first time in 10 games but still fell a fifth straight time in San came back negative and he was cleared for Thursday’s game. the shootout for Florida (14-8-8), which played beyond regula- Jose. The Oliers have not won when scoring at least three Sidney Crosby also returned Thursday after missing three tion for the fourth straight game. goals since Nov. 9, a span of 19 games. Edmonton has games with the mumps, as the Penguins managed three wins The Panthers were coming off Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over scored a league low 69 goals. —Agencies