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Thornton helps Kings end skid, defeat Avalanche

Dec 29, 2007 - 11:55 PM DENVER (Ticker) -- After a sluggish start, the Los Angeles Kings benefited from a three-goal third period to snap a season-high eight-game losing streak.

Scott Thornton scored the decisive goal in the session as the Kings rallied to defeat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-1, on Saturday.

Derek Armstrong scored midway through the third to tie the game and Anze Kopitar added an empty netter for Los Angeles.

The Kings, who have a league-worst 13-24-2 record, also ended their worst stretch since going 0-9-2 to close out the 2003-04 season.

"It's nice to get the monkey off our backs," Armstrong said. "We've been close, but close isn't good enough at this level."

Trailing, 1-0, after Avalanche defenseman Jordan Leopold beat goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin between the pads with 7:25 remaining in the first period, the Kings waited over 50 minutes to get on the board.

Colorado defenseman Scott Hannan couldn't clear the puck from his own zone and Armstrong banged it in off the near post from inside of the left circle to tie the score at 1-1 with 9:47 left.

"I just caught it, closed my eyes and shot it," Armstrong said. "It was knuckling, so I just tried to hit the net."

Seventy-seven seconds later, Jeff Giuliano fed Thornton at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Thornton, in turn, wristed a shot which went off the far post and past netminder Jose Theodore to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. It was Thornton's third goal of the season and first since November 10 against Dallas.

"(Kings defenseman Jack) Johnson made a real intelligent play," Thornton said. "He banked it off the end wall and Giuliano made a nice feed from behind the net. I just shot it, didn't really aim it."

Kopitar scored with 17 seconds remaining after Colorado pulled Theodore to ice the game.

"We got a couple of fortunate breaks tonight, but that happens," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "There weren't a lot of chances either way tonight. (That) probably benefited us more than it benefited them."

Aubin, after stopping 12 of 13 shots in the first period, knocked away 17 in the final two sessions.

"It's good to get a win," Aubin said. "We were patient, got our chances in the third and buried them."

Theodore made 20 saves for the Avalanche, who had been 14-1-1 when leading after two periods.

"It's just one of those things where we need to play a better 60 minutes," said Avalanche right wing Ian Laperriere, who played eight full seasons for the Kings. "Aubin made a couple of good saves and kept them in the game. L.A. is a good hockey club. They lost eight in a row, but we knew they were going to come hard and they did in the third and took it to us."