CALGARY, Alberta (AP) _ Shean Donovan's timely goal moved the Calgary Flames closer to their first playoff berth in eight seasons.
Donovan scored 1:06 into overtime to give Calgary a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday that moved the Flames closer to their first playoff appearance in eight seasons.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves to snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 22-10-4. The Flames, with 90 points, are in sixth place in the Western Conference and are trying to reach the playoffs for the first time since the 1995-96 season.
They are five points ahead of the St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators, who are tied for seventh.
``Ninety points is big, but we haven't clinched it, maybe it will take 92 or more, but it's a step in that direction and it does feel good,'' Flames captain Jarome Iginla said.
Donovan led a two-on-one rush with Craig Conroy and opted to hold the puck until the last second before firing a wrist shot past Cristobal Huet.
``My passing has been working better than my shooting lately but I ended up coming in so close, there was no way I could pass so I just took a shot,'' Donovan said. ``It was pretty exciting.''
Chris Simon and Conroy also scored for Calgary, and Iginla had a pair of assists giving him 501 NHL points. Simon was involved physically and offensively, netting his 17th goal of the season.
``He was excellent, you could tell he was itching to come back, he didn't like the two games he had to take off,'' Flames defenseman Denis Gauthier said. ``He was very excited to be back in the lineup, and we were happy to have him back.
``He did a lot of good things, set the pace early for us and kept a couple of their guys quiet.''
Sean Avery and Jeff Cowan scored for Los Angeles. Winless in their last seven (0-6-1), the Kings are 10th in the West and on the verge of being eliminated.
``Now, we just play for our pride, play for our fans,'' Avery said. ``For the guys in here that have battled all year, we have to do it for them.''
Kings coach Andy Murray opted to shake things up to try and spark the team, pulling three high-profile players out of the lineup that lost 3-1 to Edmonton on Friday.
Alexander Frolov, Martin Straka, and defenseman Jaroslav Modry, didn't dress for the Kings. Instead, forwards John Tripp, Dustin Brown, and defenseman Tim Gleason played. Tripp was scratched the previous 12 games, while Brown sat out nine straight and Gleason missed three.
The Kings recorded the first six shots on goal and took a 1-0 lead at 5:39 when Eric Belanger set up Avery wide-open in front for a one-timer that Kiprusoff had no chance to stop.
Calgary tied it 1:26 into the second period when Simon scored on the power play, redirecting Jordan Leopold's shot past Huet.
Simon was playing for the first time since serving a two-game suspension for kneeing Dallas Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov.
Los Angeles regained the lead at 7:29 of the second when Avery wired a pass across the slot to Cowan, streaking toward the goal. Cowan one-timed a shot into the open side before Kiprusoff could slide across.
The lead lasted just five minutes as Conroy tied it at 12:12.
Conroy got the puck at the circle and fired a shot that went off Huet's glove and just trickled over the line.
``We knew they played last night, and if we continued to play our system tried to outwork them, it would pay off in the third and it ended up paying off in overtime,'' Simon said.
