Kings lose to Oilers in a shootout

After pulling off a home-and-home sweep of the Ducks, the Edmonton Oilers needed a shootout to complete a Southern California trifecta Monday at Staples Center.

Former Kings goaltender Mathieu Garon stopped all three shots by the Kings in the shootout to lead Edmonton to a 4-3 victory over the Kings.

With goaltender Jason LaBarbera sidelined by injured ribs, the Kings turned to veteran Jean-Sebastien Aubin on Monday.

It was Aubin’s first start since Nov. 15 and he played well, stopping 20 of the 23 shots he faced.

“The guys played so well in the third period,” Aubin said. “We didn’t give them anything. We had a chance to beat them in the shootout, but [Garon] came up with some big saves.”

Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Ladislav Nagy scored goals for the Kings, who have lost two in a row and three of their last four games.

“It’s tough when you lose in a shootout, no doubt,” forward Michael Cammalleri said.

“But we definitely did some things that we’re happy with. We’re not happy with the results, but we’re definitely making steps in the right direction.”

It took nearly four minutes before the Kings gained any offensive momentum, and Kopitar made sure they profited with the first goal of the game.

After Rob Blake and Brown got the play started in the Kings end, Kopitar finished it in style when he skated with the puck through the neutral zone and blasted a shot off Edmonton defenseman Joni Pitkanen that sailed over the shoulder of Garon for Kopitar’s 12th goal of the season.

For the rest of the opening period, Aubin was sharp as he made nine saves to keep the Kings ahead, 1-0.

But in the second period, the Kings’ season-long problem with consistency became an issue again.

The Kings gave up three goals, and when they needed to make a defensive play to keep the score tied heading into the final period, they failed.

After Pitkanen tied the score at 1-1, the Kings’ Derek Armstrong was called for high-sticking, which led to a power-play goal by former Ducks forward Dustin Penner.

The Kings bounced back to tie the score, 2-2, with a power-play goal by Brown. It was Brown’s 11th goal of the season.

Edmonton took a 3-2 lead less than five minutes later when the Kings left the Oilers’ Patrick Thoresen alone outside the left post. Thoresen deflected a blue-line shot by Robert Nilsson to score his first goal of the season at 14:49.

Trailing 3-2 at the start of the third, the Kings did not seem in a hurry to score the tying goal until midway through the period.

Over the final half of the third, Garon was attacked from all angles by the Kings, who kept the puck in the Edmonton zone for extended stretches. Garon, who made impressive stops on Cammalleri, Kopitar and Michael Handzus in the period, finally gave up a goal when Nagy scored with 1:28 left in regulation.

Derek Armstrong picked up an assist when he fired the puck on net with Blake and Nagy charging hard at Garon, who made the initial save. But with so many bodies near the crease, Garon was unable to hold on to the puck and Nagy sneaked in to squeeze in a goal to tie the score at 3-3.

For Nagy, it was his first point in nine games and first goal since Nov. 10.

In overtime, both teams had a couple of nice scoring chances, but Aubin and Garon did their jobs to force a shootout.

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lonnie.white@latimes.com