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O'Sullivan, Brown help Kings end home slide

Jan 4, 2009 - 7:35 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Captain Dustin Brown took it upon himself to end the Los Angeles Kings' home losing streak.

Patrick O'Sullivan scored the decisive goal in the shootout and Brown sealed the win with a tally the third round as the Kings posted a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Wayne Simmonds tallied in regulation and fellow rookie Jonathan Quick made 31 saves for the Kings, who had gone 0-2-2 in their previous four games at Staples Center.

"The whole team worked hard and they deserve to win," Quick said. "They had some good chances, but our defense played well in front of me and they let me see all of the shots and cleared out all of the rebounds, so it made it a bit easier."

"Quick has played very well in all the games he's played," Los Angeles coach Terry Murray said. "He had a couple shutouts, a one-goal game against Columbus, and then in the shootout tonight, he's facing some of the elite players in the game. He did a great job, and it's a confidence-booster. I can't speak for him, but I can imagine that he's feeling pretty good about himself.

Scott Hartnell scored and Antero Niittymaki turned aside 30 shots for Philadelphia, which has gone 2-0-1 since beginning its six-game road trip with regulation losses at Chicago and Columbus.

"I thought the pace was really high and the goaltending was strong," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "I think it's great to see our hockey team come out and respond on the road after the way we started."

"Those two games, Columbus and Chicago, we played those games bad," Philadelphia defenseman Kimmo Timonen said. "That's not our team. We had a meeting after those two games and said, 'We have to start playing the way we can play.' We played well today."

Kings rookie defenseman Drew Doughty gave the Flyers a golden opportunity to take the lead late in the first period when he hooked Hartnell from behind during a breakaway. But Hartnell failed to convert the ensuing penalty shot, unleashing a backhander high and wide of the net with 1:40 remaining in the session.

Hartnell did manage to net the game's first goal, however. Alone on the right side of the net, the 26-year-old received a pass from the right hash marks by Scottie Upshall and fired the puck past Quick at 3:01 for his 15th tally of the season.

Simmonds forged a tie late in the session with a power-play goal, wristing the puck between the pads of Niittymaki from the top of the left faceoff circle with 3:55 remaining for his third tally.

Neither team was able to surge ahead in the third period and, after a scoreless overtime, O'Sullivan gave Los Angeles the edge in the first round of the shootout, beating Niittymaki high to the glove side.

Quick made a glove save on Jeff Carter on Philadelphia's first attempt and, after Anze Kopitar was stopped by Niittymaki in the second round, denied Flyers captain Mike Richards' backhander.

Brown then clinched the win by firing the puck under the crossbar, improving the Kings to 2-4 in the bonus format this season.

"The main thing is, the two points for us were huge," Brown said. "The race in the (Western Conference) is so tight that these are really playoff-type games for us."

"It was a much-needed two points for us," Murray added. "We played a good team tonight. We know they are banged up, but the bottom line is that you have to try and win, and we found a way to get two points."

Afterward, Brown praised the play of Quick.

"He made some big saves in regulation," Brown said. "You look at the shootout and you've got the leading goal-scorer in the league (in Carter) and a pretty good shooter in Mike Richards, so he answered the bell for us."

The win was Los Angeles' first at home over Philadelphia since October 21, 2003.