Pearson’s overtime goal powers Kings to 5-4 win over Rangers

Tanner Pearson’s goal with 1:50 left in overtime powered Los Angeles past NY.

Budaj, whose last National Hockey League appearance was Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final in 2014 for Montreal – after Carey Price was injured in a collision with Chris Kreider, he allowed three goals on eight shots – got the nod over backup Jhonas Enroth, with No. 1 goalie Jonathan Quick injured. They will have an opportunity to get back into the win column on Sunday night, when they host the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden.

But Anze Kopitar completed his hat trick with 29.7 seconds left in regulation, banking a shot off Kevin Klein’s chest and past goalie Antti Raanta.

Kings coach Darryl Sutter didn’t spread the praise around as much, saying, “It was Kopi’s best game of the season, that’s for sure”.

Shane Doan had two goals and an assist to become Arizona’s franchise leader with 931 career points as the Coyotes snapped a season-worst five-game losing streak.

When left winger Kevin Hayes made it 4-3 by scoring the Rangers’ third power-play goal in 19 games with 4:46 remaining, it appeared as though this would be their night. The Rangers scored twice to take a 3-2 lead in the second, with goals from Derek Stepan, coming off the left wall and shooting five-hole at 9:21, and Zuccarello, a backhander that bounced off Vinny Lecavalier’s leg 37 seconds later.

The Kings tied the game at the end of the second period on Kopitar’s second goal of the game. The lead was short-lived, however, as Kopitar’s second of the game made it 3-3 with 4:14 to go in the period. Kopitar tied the game at 3-3 in the second period and 4-4 with 30 seconds left in the third period. At this point, it looked as if it was going one of those nights, and the Rangers were going to get their doors blown off. However, the second goal wound up jump-starting the Rangers, and they clawed right back about two minutes later.

“It was a back and forth game”, said Kings’ defenseman Luke Schenn.

“We were down 2-0 and fought back, took the lead”, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “Sometimes you need the full 60 minutes”.

Los Angeles backed Budaj in the first period as Kopitar and Gaborik scored 10:53 apart to stake the Kings to a 2-0 lead.

This was an extremely disappointing loss, mainly because the Rangers were able to claw their way back into it after falling behind early.

The Kings (33-18-3) are now 8-0-1 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.

Kopitar scored on the game’s first shot, beating Raanta over his glove from the left circle just 33 seconds in as Marc Staal challenged way too late.

The Kings’ triumph was just one of four games that required additional time to deliver a victor. Then just three minutes into the overtime period, Tanner Pearson caught a lovely pass from from Alec Martinez and snapped the winning goal past Raanta.