Palffy Prolongs, to a Point

There were no last-second overtime heroics by Ziggy Palffy. Instead, he did what he could at the end of regulation.

Palffy’s wrist shot beat Kevin Weekes with 22.2 seconds left in the third period to force overtime Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes, marking Palffy’s second late goal for the Kings in as many games.

The celebration was short-lived -- Eric Staal scored with 2:16 left in overtime to give Carolina a 3-2 victory -- but the Kings earned a point in front of 13,170 raucous fans at RBC Center.

The Kings dominated in almost every way, more than doubling Carolina’s shots and controlling even-strength play to get their fifth point out of a possible six with one game left on a four-game trip.

The King penalty-killing unit, a concern throughout the season, gave up two power-play goals, but it was all but forgotten after Palffy nearly replicated Thursday’s game-winning goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning with 7.7 seconds left in overtime.

The Kings were on a six-on-four power play when Palffy directed a crisp cross-ice pass from Eric Belanger past Weekes’ stick side.

Defenseman Bret Hedican was in the penalty box for delay of game, and the Kings had pulled goalie Roman Cechmanek for a two-man advantage.

“You always have to be happy tying a game in the last minute,” Palffy said. “For us, it’s one point.”

Aside from Staal’s overtime goal, Carolina had trouble generating chances, with the exception of two power-play goals in a 1:04 span of the second period.

While Trent Klatt served a double-minor for high-sticking at 5:33, Carolina tied the score, 1-1, on a goal that confused several players.

King defenseman Mattias Norstrom touched the puck behind the net for what he figured would be an icing call, but the whistle never came. Icing had been waved off at the last second.

Staal scooped up the loose puck and fed Danny Markov in the slot.

“A lot of us stopped playing on the ice,” Norstrom said. “It was a mistake. Even if you have 10 players calling icing, you still have to wait until you hear the whistle.”

With Klatt still in the box, Radim Vrbata’s shot from the point hit the right post and deflected to the left. Erik Cole snapped the puck through the crease to Ron Francis on the right side for an easy tap-in and a 2-1 lead.

The Hurricanes came in with a dreadful 9.1% power-play efficiency but converted both chances against the Kings, who have been trapped in the NHL’s penalty-kill basement most of the season.

But in the end, Belanger calmly found Palffy open on the left side, and the Kings secured a point on a night they outshot Carolina, 35-17.

“We dominated that game, shift after shift after shift, working for that [tying] goal,” King Coach Andy Murray said.

“I thought it was a great play. Great vision on the part of Belanger, and Ziggy put it away.”