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Brown plays hero in Kings' shootout win over Sharks

Mar 25, 2011 - 6:11 AM Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Dustin Brown scored twice in regulation and tallied the game-winner in the fifth round of the shootout, as the Los Angeles Kings snuck past the San Jose Sharks, 4-3.

Willie Mitchell also lit the lamp for the Kings, who have won two in a row and six of eight overall.

Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for Los Angeles, which sits fifth in the Western Conference with 90 points.

"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," Quick said. "That's something we want to do, 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."

Patrick Marleau had two goals and an assist for the Sharks, who had a four- game winning streak snapped. Joe Pavelski also scored in defeat.

Antti Niemi made 35 saves for San Jose, which leads the Pacific Division with 95 points. Phoenix trails the Sharks by just two points.

Brown skated in on net to start the fifth round of the shootout. He fired a wrister between the glove and pad of Niemi to put the Kings in front.

Marleau, who tied the game late in regulation, had another chance to extend the game. But this time around, Marleau missed wide of the net.

Pavelski's tip-in off a Marleau shot on the power play made it a 1-0 game just 35 seconds into the second period.

The Kings tied the game with a power-play goal of their own at the 7:18 mark. San Jose defenseman Niclas Wallin couldn't get rid of the puck behind the net, and Alexei Ponikarovsky pounced on it. He passed to Brown, who tapped it in off the right post and past Niemi's skate.

Mitchell lit the lamp less than two minutes later to give Los Angeles a 2-1 edge.

Marleau's wrister from the left circle found the back of the net with 3:32 left in regulation to make it a 2-2 game.

The Kings took the lead back on Brown's power-play goal with 1:42 to play. Michal Handzus slid a pass to Brown, whose one-timer from the right circle beat Niemi.

Los Angeles seemed to have the game wrapped up, but Marleau scored with 4.1 seconds to go. Marleau gathered a loose puck in the right slot and knocked it over the outstretched pad of Quick to send the game into overtime.

"You never expect something like that to happen. I'm glad that our guys were persistent on the puck; it was bouncing around like crazy," Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. "We talked about throwing pucks to the net and good things would happen, we didn't do it for the first two periods, it took us 40 minutes to figure out that that's what we needed to do. We were fortunate with three seconds left to get it."

Niemi made four saves in overtime, while Quick stopped two shots.

Game Notes

The Kings have taken three of five games from the Sharks this season...Los Angeles is 2-1-1 on a five-game homestand...San Jose went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Sharks have scored a power-play goal in nine straight games...The Kings played their first game without forward Justin Williams, who will miss the rest of the season with a dislocated shoulder...LA went 2-for-5 on the power play.