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O'Sullivan, Cloutier lift Kings past Blue Jackets

Feb 11, 2008 - 3:51 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Patrick O'Sullivan helped make Dan Cloutier's return a successful one.

O'Sullivan scored the decisive goal in the fourth round of the shootout and All-Star Anze Kopitar tallied twice in regulation as the Los Angeles Kings skated to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.

"It was a very good win for our group tonight," Los Angeles coach Marc Crawford said. "We had to fight through some adversity, and our team has to maintain focus and really keep working. I thought we did a good job of that tonight."

"We kept pushing each other to compete and to play hard," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We had our opportunities just like they did. We arrive at two or one (goals) and were still getting points, but it's the little things for us - like Kopitar sweeping the puck off the line."

Cloutier made 31 saves in regulation and then stopped some critical attempts in the bonus format in his first NHL start in over a year.

"I waited a long time for this one," said Cloutier, who had not won an NHL game since December 9, 2006. "I was pretty excited to be able to come back up. I think the team played extremely well in front of me. It felt great to get back and even better to get the win."

"I thought it was a great win for him personally," Crawford said. "It has been over a year since he won a game in the National Hockey League - and to win in a shootout has to be uplifting for him."

The 31-year-old netminder yielded a goal to All-Star Rick Nash in the second round of the shootout, but Dustin Brown responded in the bottom half of the round with a nice tally.

Brown skated in on Pascal Leclaire, deked and lifted a shot past the netminder to even the score in the shootout.

Cloutier then stopped Michael Peca and Jason Chimera's attempts to set the stage for O'Sullivan's heroics. O'Sullivan, who had a potential game-winning goal taken away after video review showed he kicked the puck in, beat Leclaire with a wrist shot to the stick side.

"For me personally, I have a few moves," O'Sullivan said. "It's something you work on and prepare for in practice - and fortunately it went in."

Kopitar, who saved the game in the final minute of regulation when he swiped Chimera's shot away just before it crossed the goalline, opened the scoring just 43 seconds into the game. Kopitar picked up the loose puck at the edge of the crease after Michael Cammalleri's shot and stuffed it past Leclaire.

"The puck was bouncing like a pinball," Kopitar said. "I don't think the goalie knew where it was, so I just took a couple of whacks at it and it went into the net. It was a nice break for us to score like that right off the bat."

Leclaire turned aside 32 shots in his first game back after missing the previous two contests with a neck injury.

"I felt good out there," Leclaire said. "It was good enough to play and it didn't bother me at all tonight, so there's no issue."

Columbus evened the contest with a power-play goal from defenseman Ron Hainsey at 5:33. Hainsey blasted a one-timer from the right point after a nice feed from Nikolai Zherdev in the corner. Hainsey's shot beat Cloutier on the stick side just inside the near post.

"The goal was nice, but we played good enough to win but (also) good enough to lose in a shootout," Hainsey said. "We were close but we could have been better."

Kopitar scored his second goal of the game and 24th season at 9:02 of the second period when he caught Leclaire out of position. Kopitar collected the rebound off O'Sullivan's shot and flipped the puck over Leclaire just inside the far post.

"He was out of a little bit too far," Kopitar said. "I just tried to get it over him and toward the net - and I was fortunate it went in."

Columbus tied the score late in the second period when Nash scored his team-leading 29th goal of the season on a power play at 16:56. Just as a 5-on-3 advantage had expired, Nash took a pass from Peca and skated into the left faceoff circle and his wrister beat Cloutier just inside the far post.

"It was a nice pass from Peca," Nash said. "I just skated toward the net and saw an opening on the far side and tried to put it there and it went in."

Los Angeles thought it had reclaimed the lead late in the second period but an apparent goal by O'Sullivan was disallowed after video replay showed he had directed the puck in with his skate.

"It hit my pants," O'Sullivan said. "I didn't really know where it was. I guess I turned and apparently I kicked it in. We won the game so it really doesn't matter know."