Kings’ rally is big in Boston

Dustin Brown gave the Kings a comeback win and a boost in their bid to come from behind in the playoff race.

Brown scored with 35 seconds left in overtime and the Kings beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2, on Thursday night as the struggling Eastern Conference leaders squandered a 2-0 lead.

“It’s a huge win for us,” Brown said. “We’ve shown we could come back many times this year and this is just another one, but it just happened to be against one of the better teams in the league.”

Not lately. The Bruins are 6-9-4 in their last 19 games after going 39-8-6 in their first 53.

“We’re going to have to start outworking other teams from start to finish like we were earlier in the season,” Boston Coach Claude Julien said, “and your best players are going to have to find their game and be the best they can be in order for us to get out of it.”

The Kings remained 13th in the Western Conference, but within striking distance of the eighth and final playoff spot with 12 games left -- the next five on the road.

“To start this off with a win in Boston,” Kings Coach Terry Murray said, “was very important to have that kind of feeling and build some momentum here at the start for the rest of the trip.”

After goals by Matt Hunwick and Mark Recchi gave Boston a 2-0 edge, Michal Handzus scored on a power play for Los Angeles with 10:10 left in the third period, and rookie defenseman Drew Doughty tied it with 1:36 remaining in regulation.

The Kings began their winning play from their own end.

Brown passed the puck and Boston goalie Tim Thomas made a kick save on Sean O’Donnell’s shot, but he had little chance to stop Brown, who scored his 24th goal.

“I just dished it wide and cut for the net,” Brown said, “and there was a rebound sitting for me.”

“We left them in the game and kind of made believers out of them,” Thomas said.