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Kopitar's shootout goal lifts Kings past Flames

Mar 22, 2011 - 6:19 AM Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Anze Kopitar scored in the third round of the shootout to help Los Angeles take a 2-1 win over Calgary at Staples Center.

In the final round, Kopitar slid a backhander between the pads of Miikka Kiprusoff and Curtis Glencross missed on his final chance to give the win to the Kings.

Jarret Stoll scored the lone goal while Jonathan Quick stopped 27 shots for the Kings, who snapped a two-game slide.

"That was 20 guys out there, 40 guys out there that put a heck of a performance on," said Los Angeles head coach Terry Murray. "That was intense, very playoff-like, and a lot of good things on both sides. It was a fun game to play and a fun game to coach."

Olli Jokinen scored and Kiprusoff made 26 stops for the Flames, who have lost five of their last six games.

"It was a hard-fought game, it was like a game seven playoffs, you can't ask for anymore than that," said Calgary head coach Brent Sutter. "Obviously it's important that we try to get two points, but the effort was there, we did a lot of really good things here tonight, and we come up a little bit short."

The playoff picture in the Western Conference remains tight as Los Angeles moved to the fifth spot with 88 points, one behind Phoenix and two ahead of Chicago and Nashville.

Meanwhile, Calgary sits tied with two other teams with 85 points for the final playoff spot, which is currently occupied by Anaheim. However, the Ducks and Stars, who sit in ninth, both have 10 games to play while Calgary has just seven remaining.

The first two periods went scoreless as Quick stopped 14 shots and Kiprusoff turned aside 15 discs.

Los Angeles finally broke through at the 14:08 mark of the third when a one- timer by Brad Richardson at the top of the left circle was stopped, but Stoll picked up the rebound at the right side and flung it into the net.

However, Calgary scored just 65 seconds later when Jokinen skated in on a breakaway and slid a backhand between the pads of Quick for his 16th goal of the year.

Game Notes

Los Angeles hosts San Jose on Thursday...Calgary plays at San Jose on Wednesday...Los Angeles took three of four from Calgary this season...Calgary went 0-for-6 on the power play while Los Angeles was 0-for-4.