Kings Blow 4-0 Lead and Lose, 6-5, as Penguins Get Deflected Goal in Overtime

Doug Shedden scored his 31st goal of the season 3:54 into overtime Monday night to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 6-5 victory over the Kings.

Pittsburgh rallied from a 4-0 first-period deficit as the Penguins maintained a three-point lead over the fifth-place New York Rangers for the final playoff spot in the Patrick Division.

“We showed a lot of heart and a lot of character,” Pittsburgh Coach Bob Berry said. “We didn’t start very well. In fact, we looked like we should have had pompons out there in the first period.”

Pittsburgh trailed, 4-3, entering the third period before Craig Simpson scored two goals to put the Penguins ahead, 5-4. Joe Paterson scored at 9:24 of the third period to give the Kings a tie before Mario Lemieux’s shot from the left side deflected off Shedden’s skate and past King goalie Roland Melanson with 1:06 remaining in overtime.

Lemieux had three assists to extend his point-scoring streak to 19 games and raise his season total to 112 points, a team record.

“As long as we win and I get my points here and there, I’m happy,” Lemieux said. “I don’t worry about breaking records.”

The Kings scored four times in the opening period on 11 shots against goalie Gilles Meloche, who was replaced by Roberto Romano at the start of the second period. It was the first non-injury-related goaltending switch made by the Penguins this season.

Romano said he was surprised when Berry told him he was going into the game.

Dave Taylor got his 28th goal of the season to open the scoring for the Kings 38 seconds into the game. Bryan Erickson got his 15th goal at 13:18, and Bernie Nicholls scored a shorthanded goal at 14:59.

The Kings made it 4-0 at 18:16 when Phil Sykes scored his 16th goal.

The Penguins scored three times in the second period, starting with Terry Ruskowski’s goal at 9:55. Dan Frawley converted the pass from Troy Loney on a 2-on-1 break at 17:57, and Mike Bullard scored his 36th on a power play less than a minute later.

Kings Coach Pat Quinn said his team went into defensive shell after the first period and never quite recovered.

“We were trying to protect what we had and the aggressive nature went out of our game,” Quinn said. “Whatever we were trying to do, we didn’t do it very well.”