Kings try basic approach to beat Oilers, 3-1

EDMONTON, Canada -- Patrick O’Sullivan and the Kings went back to basics to beat the Edmonton Oilers.

“We stuck to trying to give up as little as we could and we got a good performance from our goalie,” O’Sullivan said Tuesday night.

“And when you get all that, you get a good chance to win.”

O’Sullivan had a goal and an assist as the Kings won their third in a row, beating the Oilers, 3-1. Dustin Brown and Lubomir Visnovsky also scored for the Kings, who started a three-game trip by winning for the sixth time in eight games following an eight-game losing streak.

“Tonight was a very strong game for us,” Kings Coach Marc Crawford said. “We did a great job, I thought, of hanging on to the puck and really challenging an Oiler D that’s playing with a lot of confidence right now. I thought we back-checked really well.”

Dustin Penner had the lone goal for Edmonton, which had its four-game winning streak stopped. The Oilers (21-22-4) also failed to go over the .500 mark for the first time since their fourth game of the season.

The Kings outshot the Oilers, 13-3, in the first period.

“It was kind of obvious early that we weren’t playing up to the level that we have been playing the last few games,” Oilers defenseman Sheldon Souray said. “We came out maybe a little bit flatter than we would have liked. If we had started the game the way we finished it, we would have had a lot more success.”

Oilers goaltender Mathieu Garon faced 13 first-period shots, and the Kings’ Jason LaBarbera faced three.

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RESULTS, SCHEDULE

Atlanta 5, at Detroit 1: Marian Hossa scored three goals -- his seventh career hat trick -- and Kari Lehtonen made 46 saves

Colorado 3, at Tampa Bay 0: Jose Theodore made 22 of his 32 saves in the third period for his 24th career shutout.

at Toronto 5, Carolina 4: Ian White had a goal and an assist to help the Maple Leafs end a five-game losing streak.

at Washington 4, Ottawa 2: Alex Ovechkin scored the tiebreaking goal on a third-period power play and the Capitals completed a season sweep of the Senators.

Montreal 3, N.Y. Islanders 1: Tomas Plekanec scored in each of the first two periods and Cristobal Huet stopped 17 shots.

at Columbus 3, Vancouver 2: Jason Chimera scored a second-period goal and Pascal Leclaire made it stand up with 25 saves.

at Predators 3, Calgary 0: Chris Mason stopped 22 shots and J.P Dumont scored a goal.

at Phoenix 5, San Jose 3: Shane Doan had two goals and an assist and Peter Mueller had four assists.

Kings 3, at Edmonton: The Kings won their third in a row.

at Ducks 4, Dallas 2: Scott Niedermayer had a goal and two assists and the Ducks won their fourth in a row.