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Chimera tallies twice as Blue Jackets continue to roll

Nov 1, 2007 - 6:11 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Jason Chimera helped ruin the Los Angeles Kings' hopes of a perfect homestand.

Chimera scored a pair of goals and Pascal Leclaire made 33 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-1 triumph over the Kings on Wednesday.

Gilbert Brule netted what proved to be the game-winner and Rick Nash added a shorthanded empty-netter for Columbus, which halted a five-game skid at Los Angeles.

"Winning is fun, and it seems like when you're winning, everyone gets in the act scoring and contributing," Chimera said. "I don't think there are more goal-scorers on the team, I think there are more guys playing with confidence on the team right now. There are some guys who felt like they had something to prove, and when guys are playing with confidence, it's a dangerous thing."

Entering with a 3-0-0 mark on their four-game homestand and four straight wins overall, the Kings fell behind late in the first period when Chimera recorded his first tally.

"I just want to play well, keep it going," Chimera said. "I've felt like I've established myself as a pretty good pro now and I want to contribute a lot more offensively, that's for sure. I want to be up there in points and help the team every night and be a more consistent player."

Carrying down the right wing on a 3-on-2 rush, Chimera dished to Manny Malhotra, who made a return pass. From low in the faceoff circle, Chimera blasted a one-timer over goaltender Jason LaBarbera's left shoulder with 3:31 remaining, giving the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead.

"Chimera is probably one of the fastest guys in the league, and obviously, he has the scoring touch," Leclaire said.

Brule doubled the advantage early in the middle session with his first goal of the season. After LaBarbera stopped a blast from the blue line, the puck squirted to the 2005 sixth overall pick, who chipped a backhander in from the doorstep at 3:21.

Chimera made it 3-0 at 7:24, completing his two-goal effort. LaBarbera made a pair of good saves on Nash, including one with his stick, before the puck found its way to Chimera, who fired it into a vacant net from the right side for his third of the campaign.

"It's one of those things. You have to get some dirty goals against a guy who is hot like (LaBarbera) is right now," Chimera said. "You have to feed some pucks to the net, and one of my goals, the puck was laying there after a rebound. When a goalie is hot, you have to throw pucks and bodies at the net and hope for the best."

"The difference in the game was, their third line was great and ours wasn't," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "It wasn't Nash or (David) Vyborny or (Sergei) Fedorov that was the difference tonight, it was their grinding line of Malhotra, Chimera and (Dan) Fritsche was better than the lines we had playing against them. That quite simply was the difference in the game."

Kyle Calder cashed in during a power play less than two minutes later to get Los Angeles on the scoreboard. With the puck loose near the right goalpost, Calder banked it off the left arm of Leclaire and into the net at 9:15 to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Nash sealed the win in the final seconds with the Kings on a power play.

"We spotted them three goals, and in this league, that is often times too many to overcome," Crawford said. "It certainly was tonight."

Leclaire, who has allowed a total of just two goals in his six wins this season, made 16 of his saves in the third period.

"I feel good, but I don't want to get too high or get too low," said Leclaire, who leads the league with four shutouts. "I want to stay at the same level, and you are always as good as your last game. I want to come in and be ready. It's only been eight games, but it's fun to win."

"I think this was one of his best performances," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "When you're playing a team that's playing as well as they are, especially on the road, you're going to need your goalie to be your best player, and he was."

Leclaire credits much of his success to his defensemen.

"Guys have been stopping pucks," he said. "I know Adam (Foote) blocked one when (Michael) Cammalleri came down, and he played very well. He stayed with guys and didn't bite and really makes me look better."

LaBarbera turned aside 32 shots for Los Angeles, which outscored its opponents, 12-2, over the first three games of the homestand.

"I'm disappointed in the way we played," Crawford said. "I look at this as an opportunity, and we didn't pass with flying colors by any stretch of the imagination. We know we can be better and we have to get more from our people who have the responsibility of grinding it out."

"We just couldn't get the puck in the net," Kings center Anze Kopitar said. "I had a couple of chances where I should have put the puck in, and then it would have been a different game. We should just forget about this one and move on."