• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Frolov, Garon lead Kings past Devils in shootout

Nov 28, 2006 - 6:37 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar showed their Los Angeles Kings teammates that they can be counted on in the clutch.

Frolov scored the game-winning goal after Kopitar tallied first in the shootout as the Kings posted a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Mathieu Garon stopped 20 shots in regulation and overtime, then shut down the Devils in the shootout as Los Angeles won consecutive games for the first time since the opening week of the season.

"It was a great win for us," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "It's a real character win. We've beaten two pretty good teams that have two of the premier goaltenders in the league and both of those goaltenders played great against us. It was a gutsy effort by our team and it's great when the shootout goes for the home team."

Kopitar added an assist and Michael Cammalleri tallied the game-tying power-play goal with two minutes left in the second period for the Kings, who are 1-2 in shootouts this season.

Frolov, who leads Los Angeles with 24 points, scored the clincher when he skated in on goaltender Martin Brodeur, pulled his stick back as if to shoot, hesitated, then slapped the puck glove side past the veteran netminder.

"Brodeur's great but he's not unbeatable," Frolov said. "I made a move on him and then took the shot. We played really good tonight and we're feeling more comfortable as a team."

"We've had better road trips but at least we got a point tonight," Brodeur said. "We played some good games, some bad games and we played OK tonight. The only thing I might have done differently in the shootout was that I thought about poke-checking Frolov on the last goal but I backed off at the last minute and he put it past me. Frolov just has good hands and he didn't make me look too good out there."

Brian Gionta and Travis Zajac had power-play tallies for the Devils, who had just been 1-for-19 with a man advantage in their previous four games.

"We got some good chances, a couple went off the post and crossbar," Gionta said. "Zach Parise had a good chance right at the end but it just didn't bounce his way. We put traffic in front of Garon and got some good tips. Everyone on this team knows how to win and we aren't happy unless we do."

Brodeur stopped 26 shots in falling to 4-2-1 in seven career games at Los Angeles.