The Los Angeles Kings trailed much of their game with the Flames in Calgary Wednesday night but Jake Muzzin scored early in the third period and Darcy Kuemper made that stand to force overtime.
Tanner Pearson finished the rally with a goal just 27 seconds into the extra session.
“I think in overtime you just want as much possession as possible,” Pearson said. “Drew and I were kind of giving give-and-goes all over the ice and then he faked the shot there and froze everyone, so I just wanted to get it off as quick as possible, and it went in.”
Kuemper made 30 saves.
“That was the team effort we needed to get wins,” Kuemper said.
Sean Monahan gave the Flames a 1-0 lead in the first period off a pretty tic-tac-toe passing in the zone.
“What a goal that was,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “We weren’t getting too much offense going, and it was a great play by them to get us the lead. They were playing good. They were creating. It was just unfortunate that the rest of us couldn’t get one either.”
The Kings are just 2-7-0 in their last nine games.
“I think it’s good to have two points going into the (All-Star) break. It gives us something positive [to] end on a positive note, but we’ve just got to keep it going after the break, and that’s the big thing,” Pearson said after the win.
[WATCH: All Kings vs. Flames highlights]
Mike Smith made 25 saves in taking the loss as the Flames are 0-0-3 in their last three after their break.
“That’s the hardest thing is to understand that it’s not easy to win in this league and it’s not easy to get points,” Smith said. “Obviously we’re disappointed with not getting two and not winning games, but we’re right in the thick of things and you’ve got to continue to gain points and gain momentum.”
The Flames are on a 10-game point streak but the loss still hurts in the standing race.
“We went through a stretch like this earlier in the season. We found a way to get out of it,” Smith said. “The good thing is we’re still getting points in these games and we’re doing some good things. We’re just a little half-degree off and it’s costing us some points, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We have to keep going here. We’re still in the hunt.”
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