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LaBarbera, Kings blank Blue Jackets

Dec 7, 2008 - 7:02 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Jason LaBarbera turned aside all 23 shots he faced as the Los Angeles Kings snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-0 triumph over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Rookie Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Calder scored nearly 10 minutes apart in the second period for Los Angeles, which entered the contest with an 0-2-1 record in its previous three.

Anze Kopitar added an empty-net goal with 13 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Rookie Steve Mason made 15 saves for Columbus, which lost its second in a row.

Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock was not thrilled with his team's effort.

"I don't think we created a lot of scoring chances," Hitchcock said. "To me, we were a step slow all night, a step slow everywhere."

"This was a tough game, going up against San Jose we put in a great effort," Mason said of his team's 3-2 loss on Thursday. "Tonight, obviously, everyone would have liked to have that effort from everyone and we didn't get it."

LaBarbera recorded his second shutout of the season and fourth career by stopping two shots in the first period, 14 in the second and seven in the third.

"That might have been one of the most boring NHL periods I have ever seen," LaBarbera said of the first session. "There was nothing going on. Both teams were maybe feeling each other out."

The Kings quickly got it in gear in the second period and kept their feet on the gas until the end of the contest.

"We kept making plays, we kept passing the puck, we were moving our feet right through to the end. It was a good finish," Los Angeles coach Terry Murray said.

Simmonds opened the scoring 2:39 into the second period, unleashing a shot from just inside the right faceoff circle that beat Mason for his second goal of the season.

Patrick O'Sullivan could have given the Kings a two-goal bulge, but his penalty-shot attempt at 6:43 of the second sailed over the crossbar.

"He's a lefthanded goalie," O'Sullivan said. "Most of the guys in the league catch with the other hand, so I was thinking I was going to go high glove the whole time and I pretty much did what I wanted. I just shot it over the net."

Calder did double the advantage less than six minutes later.

After Kopitar cleanly won a faceoff in the offensive end, the puck went back to the left point, where defenseman Kyle Quincey wristed a shot that Calder deflected past a screened Mason with 7:31 remaining in the session for his third tally of the campaign.

Kopitar was credited with his 100th career assist.

"I think we did everything," Kopitar said. "A win is a win, and it doesn't matter if there were mistakes in there. After getting beat in a shootout (by Edmonton on Friday), it was pretty big to come out strong and score the first goal. We did that. We kept making plays. We didn't hold back and wait for them to come at us."

Taking it a step further, O'Sullivan was not content with just winning on Saturday.

"We definitely believe we're going in the right direction, but all of us believe we can win right now," O'Sullivan said. "That's our goal - to win as many games as we can and get into the playoffs. We don't think that's unreasonable at all."