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O'Sullivan helps Kings edge Blackhawks

Mar 24, 2007 - 5:50 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Patrick O'Sullivan helped the Los Angeles Kings finally get past the Chicago Blackhawks.

O'Sullivan scored a goal and set up the game-winner as the Kings avoided being swept of the four-game season series with the Blackhawks with a 2-1 victory.

Defenseman Mike Weaver netted the decisive tally and Mathieu Garon made 26 saves for for Los Angeles, which dropped the first three meetings between the teams this season.

"We did not want to be swept by Chicago," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "We did talk about that before the game. You want some sort of bragging rights for next year."

O'Sullivan opened the scoring midway through the first period during a 5-on-3 power play. Michael Cammalleri gathered a loose puck and slipped a pass to O'Sullivan, who wristed a shot over the glove of goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin and just inside right goalpost for his fifth goal of the season.

"It was a nice pass from Michael to me, and I was able to lift it over Khabibulin," O'Sullivan said. "It was nice to score of off him. I watched him growing up and he is a great goalie."

Patrick Sharp extended his goal-scoring streak to three games just over six minutes into the middle session with a man-advantage tally, knotting the contest at 1-1.

"I saw a turnover and it was a good bounce for me," Sharp said. "I was able to move in and beat the goalie short side."

But O'Sullivan helped set up Weaver late in the third for the winning tally.

With just 3:29 remaining and the Kings on the power play, O'Sullivan made a pass from behind the net to to Alexander Frolov, who found Weaver at the right point. The blue-liner skated in and wristed a shot inside the right post for his third of the campaign and a 2-1 lead.

"It was nice being on the power play because I don't get out there that much," Weaver said. "I was happy to score and help our team win, too."

Garon stopped all 10 shots he faced in the final session for the Los Angeles, which has won four of its last six games.

Khabibulin made 30 saves for the Blackhawks, who have dropped four in a row.

"We simply did not have enough guys going tonight, and I will have to speak with a few guys (Saturday)," Blackhawks coach Denis Savard said.