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Spezza's goal propels Senators past Kings

Nov 23, 2010 - 5:23 AM Ottawa, ON (Sports Network) - Jason Spezza scored the game-winning goal in the third period to lift Ottawa to a 3-2 win over Los Angeles in the only meeting of the season between the two teams at Scotiabank Place.

Alexei Kovalev added a goal and an assist to surpass the 1,000-career point mark while Milan Michalek supplied the other goal for the Senators, who halted a stretch of three straight losses and defeats in four out of five games.

Pascal Leclaire turned away 28 shots to earn the victory for Ottawa, which had dropped three in a row and six out of seven to the visitors entering Monday's game.

"It was a good win. We had a bit of a rough week so it was good to come back on a winning note," Leclaire said.

Anze Kopitar and Ryan Smyth netted the goals for the Kings, who have lost four of their last five contests following a six-game winning streak. Jonathan Quick suffered the defeat after yielding three goals on only 19 shots.

Smyth tipped in a Jack Johnson shot from inside the left point with three seconds to play that was ruled no goal on the ice and upheld after a lengthy review process confirmed that he used a high stick to direct the puck past Leclaire.

The decisive goal took place when Spezza took a pass from Kovalev in flight down the left side, made a pass to himself to move around Matt Greene and then snapped the puck past Quick with 8:41 to go in the game.

"[Spezza] made a nice move, but I have to stop that," Quick said. "If I want to play the minutes, then I have to be better."

Kovalev collected the puck off a blocked shot in the right circle and wristed it home to give the Sens a 1-0 advantage exactly at the midpoint of the first period. It was the 418th goal and 1,000th point of his 18-year career.

Kopitar collected an errant clearing attempt and wristed a shot from the right circle that beat Leclaire high to the short side to even the game with 3:43 left in the period.

LA took the lead just under eight minutes into the middle session when Smyth stationed himself in front of Leclaire and tipped home Justin Williams' shot.

Ottawa tied the game with 55.3 ticks left in the period when Johnson lost his balance and the puck went deep in his own zone. Daniel Alfredsson gathered the loose disc, moved behind the net and fed in front to Michalek, who snapped a one-timer past Quick from the bottom of the left circle.

Game Notes

Leclaire is 3-0-1 in four career games against the Kings...Senators wingers Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu each played in his 600th career game while Michalek took part in his 400th career game...Kopitar has recorded a point in seven of his last eight games and 20 (7 goals) in his last 20 matches...Williams has scored a point in 13 of his last 14 games and 20 points in his last 18 contests...Quick is 11-3-0 on the season, matching Mario Lessard (1980-81) for the best start by a goalie through 14 games in franchise history.