Overtime Win Ends Four-Game Skid

Before Saturday night’s game at Staples Center, King Coach Andy Murray said of the New Jersey Devils: “They’re a strong team and they know it. Like when you’re a good-looking woman and you know it, you have a strut to you.”

It was the Kings, however, who had a bounce in their step after Ziggy Palffy scored from just inside the blue line at 3 minutes 50 seconds of overtime, giving the Kings a 2-1 victory over the Devils in front of a sellout crowd of 18,233.

The victory was only the fourth in 17 games for the Kings, who in ending a four-game losing streak also got a second-period tip-in goal from Derek Armstrong and 34 saves from goaltender Felix Potvin, matching a season high.

The Devils, meanwhile, had a six-game winning streak ended but have earned points in 10 consecutive games. They’re 8-0-1-1 since Jan. 4.

“I felt good tonight,” said Potvin, who hadn’t given up fewer than two goals since Dec. 10, when he stopped 19 shots in a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators. “I was seeing the puck real well. It’s good when you get the bounces on your side some nights, and tonight they hit the crossbar in overtime. That’s a good change.

“We’ve got to build on this.”

Scott Gomez scored the Devils’ goal, tying the score at 6:45 of the third period. In overtime, the Devils’ Sergei Brylin banged a shot off the crossbar before Palffy took a pass from Armstrong and ripped a 55-foot shot past Martin Brodeur.

The goaltender said he was screened.

“I didn’t see him shoot it, and when I reacted, the puck was behind me,” he said. “I didn’t find out until afterward that it was Palffy.”

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King defenseman Mathieu Schneider returned to the lineup after sitting out two games because of a groin strain but four other regulars -- Adam Deadmarsh, Lubomir Visnovsky, Eric Belanger and Brad Chartrand -- remained sidelined.... Jason Allison is the Kings’ newest alternate captain. “We thought with what Jay’s been through and his importance to the team that it was time to step up and give it to him,” Murray said.... Forward Scott Barney, drafted by the Kings in 1997 but sidelined for three years because of back injuries, made his NHL debut. He is the ninth rookie to play for the Kings this season, the seventh to make his NHL debut.