Jets score on first 3 shots, beat Kings 5-4 in shootout to hand Cup champs 5th loss in 6 games

Sunday, 01.11.2015 / 1:35 AM The Canadian Press

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Mathieu Perreault, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler scored on Winnipeg's first three shots against Jonathan Quick during a 3-minute span, and then Little got the only goal in a four-round shootout to help the Jets beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 on Saturday night.

Zach Bogosian scored the tying goal in the third period to end a 41-game drought going back almost a year. Michael Hutchinson gave up goals on two of the first five shots he faced, but finished with 25 saves and stopped four more shots in the tiebreaker.

Hutchinson, a 24-year-old rookie, allowed more than three goals for the first time in 16 starts this season.

Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams, Marian Gaborik and Kyle Clifford scored for the Kings, who have lost three straight and five of six. Quick, who has given up 15 goals in his last three starts, stopped 21 of Winnipeg's final 22 shots before Little beat him in the shootout.

The Kings improved to 19-13-10 a year after going 25-13-4 over their first 42 games en route to their second Stanley Cup title in three seasons. They began their 2011-12 championship campaign 20-15-7 over the same stretch.

Gaborik tied the score 3-all at 1:29 of the third on a rebound for his team-high 13th goal after Kopitar intercepted the goalie's attempted clearing pass at the left boards and quickly shot it toward the net. But Bogosian beat Quick through a screen on a wrist shot with 5:56 left in regulation — his first goal since Jan. 31, 2014.

Perreault opened the scoring at 3:39 of the first period when Michael Frolik shrugged off a hard check behind from Matt Greene against the end boards and fed Perreault in front for his 11th goal. Quick surrendered a soft one to Little 52 seconds later on a short wrist shot.

The Jets, 0 for 7 on the power play in Thursday's 4-1 loss at Phoenix, connected the first time they had the man advantage to make it 3-0. Wheeler was credited with his 12th goal when his centring pass in tight quarters bounced in off Kings centre Trevor Lewis at 6:39.

Clifford changed the momentum significantly with a thunderous hit on Anthony Peluso behind the Winnipeg net at 8:20 of the first, resulting in a power play that the Kings were able to kill off.

Dustin Byfuglien then got an interference penalty and Jets teammate Adam Lowry was assessed a delay-of-game infraction 26 seconds later for clearing the puck over the glass, resulting in power-play goals by Kopitar and Williams 1:27 apart to pull the Kings to 3-2 with 4:02 left in the first.

Jeff Carter lifted a backhander over Hutchinson's glove on a breakaway at 3:31 of the second when he after stealing the puck from Byfuglien inside the Kings' blueline. But a video review confirmed that the puck hit the crossbar.

The Kings are 0-3 on a seven-game homestand, including a 7-6 overtime loss to Nashville and a 4-3 defeat to the New York Rangers on Thursday in their first meeting since the Stanley Cup Finals. Los Angeles hasn't lost four in a row on the same homestand since the middle of the 2010-11 season.

NOTES: Kings C Tyler Toffoli missed his first game of the season because of mononucleosis. ... Quick gave up at least four goals in a game for the ninth time this season, something he did just six times in 49 games last season. ... The Jets' two-day stay in Southern California will conclude Sunday, when the Anaheim Ducks retire Teemu Selanne's No. 8 jersey. Selanne began his 21-year NHL career with the old Winnipeg Jets, who became the Coyotes. These Jets used to be the Atlanta Thrashers. ... The Kings are 7-0-3 against the Thrashers/Jets franchise since it joined the NHL in the 1999-00 season.

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