Kings win, 4-3, in shootout
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The Kings ended their three-game losing streak the hard way, squandering a 3-0 lead before coming back to win a six-round shootout on Michal Handzus’ goal and pull out a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday at TD Garden.
Jonathan Quick stopped 38 shots during 65 minutes and was perfect in the tiebreaking procedure.
In the shootout, Patrice Bergeron was stopped by Quick’s poke check, Anze Kopitar’s effort was parried by Tim Thomas, Tyler Seguin was stopped by the right post, Kings defenseman Jack Johnson shot wide, Boston forward Milan Lucic was stopped by Quick, Dustin Brown was stymied by Thomas, Boston’s Michael Ryder was stopped, Jarret Stoll shot high, Boston’s Nathan Horton was stopped, Justin Williams tried to fake but Thomas stayed with him, David Krejci was thwarted on a low shot, and Handzus converted on a wrist shot.
The Kings gave up a season-high 41 shots against over the first 65 minutes and have given up 18 goals in their last four games.
Brad Richardson scored on the first shift taken by the Kings’ new fourth line in the first period, Handzus scored on a rebound and Stoll recorded his 100th career goal for the Kings, who were completing a back-to-back sequence they began on Friday with a loss at Buffalo. But as the game wore on the Bruins began to dominate and the Kings couldn’t hold on.
Boston pulled even at 3-3 at 13:44 of the third period, when Bergeron ended a stretch of concerted pressure by scoring on a wrist shot from the slot during a power play.
The Kings had scored on two of their first four shots at Thomas but got little else and were hard-pressed to hold on during a frantic third period. They did have a power play late in the third period, gained when Matt Greene stickhandled into the slot and drew a penalty on Mark Recchi, but they couldn’t capitalize on it.
More later at www.latimes.com/sports
-- Helene Elliott, in Boston