Kings Power Past Sharks

As victories go, the Kings earned an important one Monday night against San Jose.

Jason Allison scored a power-play goal with 1:10 remaining in overtime to give the Kings a 3-2 victory in front of 17,035 at Staples Center and end a three-game losing streak.

“We were all over [ goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff] and we were just trying to get something going because we were getting a little tired,” said Allison about his game-winning goal, which came nearly three minutes into a four-minute man-advantage situation for the Kings.

The Kings also ended a five-game home losing streak, winning for the first time at Staples Center since defeating Phoenix, 4-3, in overtime Dec. 26.

Goaltender Felix Potvin played his second consecutive strong game with 17 saves and improved to 16-15-3. The Kings got third-period goals from defenseman Mathieu Schneider and rookie forward Alexander Frolov.

It was evident early that San Jose, which played without injured captain Owen Nolan, was determined to play a responsible game on defense.

Every time the Kings had a potential breakaway, the Sharks seemed to have at least one player back.

For two periods, San Jose frustrated the Kings’ top line of Allison, Ziggy Palffy and Mikko Eloranta, who was switched to the line for the first time.

San Jose took a 1-0 lead when Mike Ricci found the net from inside the right circle at 8:11 of the first period.

Allison, who seemed to struggle for two periods with his nagging knee injury, showed the type of explosiveness he has been lacking with a nifty move around defenseman Bryan Marchment in the third period.

And Eloranta, who normally plays on a checking line, also had a good scoring chance but missed.

Frolov and Schneider, however, did not have this problem.

The Kings tied the score, 1-1, when Frolov picked up a turnover by Teemu Selanne from behind San Jose’s goal and found Schneider, who beat Kiprusoff from the left circle at 1:36.

Then midway into the period, the Kings took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Frolov, who scored when his slap shot from the top of the right circle deflected off Marchment’s stick into the net at 9:15.

But the Kings’ only lead of regulation did not last long.

Thanks to a minor defensive breakdown by the Kings in their zone, winger Marco Sturm skated behind the net and beat Potvin with a wraparound 36 seconds after Frolov’s goal to tie the score, 2-2.

In overtime, the Kings caught the break they were looking for when defenseman Scott Hannan picked up a double-minor penalty for high-sticking Palffy 14 seconds into the period.

The Sharks, who own the worst penalty-killing unit in the league, did a good job against the Kings’ power play until Palffy found Allison open in the slot to end the game.

“We lost too much ground because of injuries to wait a little while to get going,” said Allison, who scored his first goal since returning to the lineup last week. “We had a great effort from the team tonight. We played hard the whole game.... It was the best game we played in a long time.”