The New Jersey Devils are in town tonight to face the Los Angeles Kings. The Devils, currently third in the Atlantic, have dropped three straight games to Pacific Division teams. New Jersey is the last Atlantic Division club the Kings will face. So far, L.A. has split the decisions right down the middle. (Two wins came against the Rangers and Islanders, 2 losses against the Penguins and Flyers.) Overall, the Kings and Devils have played 85 times. The Kings have a 47-26-11 record against the Devils. In L.A., the Kings are 28-8-6.

L.A. has won three of their last four games, but haven't had back-to-back home victories since the first week of the season. Mathieu Garon gets the start tonight. He looked strong in the last game against the Flames, holding them to one goal on 23 shots. Frolov-Avery-Conroy get the start, with Frolov dealing the hot hand. He has 10 goals in his last ten games. Kopitar-Brown-Cammallari are on the other scoring line.

Garon gets lots of pressure early in the game, with the Devils outshooting the Kings. The Kings' first shot almost caught Brodeur off-guard, when Conroy's pass trickles to Avery, who puts it on net. But Brodeur slides over to stop Avery.

The Kings are continuing the trend the past few games of playing tight and forechecking. But the Devils are right there, limiting the Kings to two shots in the first half of the period. The Kings get their first power play of the evening, when Colin White gets called for hooking. The Kings get several whacks at it, but the Devils kill it off.

The Kings' second power play occurs when the Devils get called for too many men. But the Devils forecheck hard to eliminate the man advantage. Avery gets HAMMERED by White, which stops play, but no penalty is called.

The Kings do get called for a penalty at the end of the period, when Brian Willsie gets charged for hooking, to put the Devils on the power play to start the second.

First Period: Kings 0, Devils 0

16 seconds in, Brian Gionta scores a power play goal to make it 1-0 Devils. The assists go to Patrik Elias and Scott Gomez. Gionta hit the post on his next shift. Fortunately for L.A., they didn't allow a goal within two minutes of the first goal, which has been a problem plaging the Kings this season.

Dustin Brown redirects a tight pass from Lubomir Visnovsky through the crease to tie the game. Brodeur looked angry, as if to complain about his defensemen. But, the pass was pretty amazing, considering how tight the Devils have been playing. Brown now has a point in six of his last seven games.

The Kings get another power play, when the Jim Dowd gets called for interference. A flurry of shots had the Devils reeling, and when they finally cleared the puck, it went over the glass, resulting in another penalty. So the Kings get a two-man advantage for a minute. NJ kills both penalties, but a broken pane of glass delays the game while they replace it.

Willsie gets penalized again, this time for slashing, to put L.A. on the PK. Garon couldn't handle a rebound from Brian Rafalski, and Travis Zajac knocks it in to lift New Jersey, 2-1. Patrik Elias got his second assist of the game. Willsie's been in the box for both Devils power play goals.

The Kings gets another power play when Jaime Langenbrunner is called for hooking. L.A.'s power play seems smoother when Kopitar, Cammy and Brown are running it. Michael Cammallari scores his 100th goal as a King to tie the game. Kopitar and Brown get the assists.

Los Angeles has doubled the shots of New Jersey in the second period, 13-6.

Second Period: Kings 2, Devils 2

Kajac interferes with Garon to put the Kings on the power play. But strong defense by New Jersey turns them away again.

The Kings' Aaron Miller gets called for tripping, to put the Devils on the power play, where they have scored both their goals tonight. L.A. kills off the penalty, amid cheers from the fans in Staples Center. But Dustin Brown gets called for elbowing, and L.A. goes back on the penalty kill. After another successful PK, the fans give a rousing cheer.

Two successive hits on Avery and Brown illicited an angry response out of the crowd, but play continued. Great blocking by the Kings limiting the amount of shots on Garon. The Devils kept playing close through several Kings attacks. And we're going to OVERTIME!

Third period: Kings 2, Devils 2

In overtime, the Kings start Blake and Visnovsky, with Brown and Kopitar. Brown gets a gem of a chance, only to be twarted by Brodeur. Midway through the overtime period, Peter Harrold, a recent call-up from Manchester, gets called for hooking, to put NJ up on the man advantage. Avery makes several brilliant plays, slapping the puck out of the zone.

The Kings kill the penalty to harrold, who comes out of the box to pick up the puck and take it into Devils territory. But nothing comes of it, and we go to a SHOOTOUT!

Overtime: Kings 2, Devils 2

Kopitar deked Brodeur to score!
Elias is denied by Garon.
Brown tries to go tweeners, but misses.
Gionta takes a shot, but Garon glove saves.
Frolov dekes past Brodeur to score!

KINGS WIN!!!

Final score: Kings 3, Devils 2 (shootout)