Kings edge Sharks 3-2 in shootout

Patrick O'Sullivan and Anze Kopitar followed up their regulation goals with shootout scores, and the Los Angeles Kings won for the third time in San Jose this season, 3-2 over the Sharks on Wednesday night.

Dustin Brown scored the winning shootout goal, and Jason LaBarbera stopped 35 shots for the Kings, who have won just two of their last eight games — both at the Shark Tank in the past five days.

Playing without top scorers Mike Cammalleri and Alexander Frolov, the Kings rallied from an early deficit in their third trip to San Jose in 27 days and their fourth game against the Sharks this month.

After Kopitar and O'Sullivan put Los Angeles ahead with second-period goals, Craig Rivet tied it during a third-period power play with his first goal of the season.

Jeremy Roenick and Joe Pavelski scored for San Jose in the shootout, but LaBarbera's stop on Milan Michalek in the second round was the difference. The Sharks are the NHL's worst shootout team since 2005, going 4-13.

Joe Thornton scored and Evgeni Nabokov made 30 saves for San Jose, which had played just once in the previous 10 days, losing 2-1 to the Kings at the Shark Tank last Saturday. The Sharks fell out of first place in the Pacific Division through sheer inactivity during their puzzling schedule quirk.

Frolov, who has four goals and 16 assists to match Cammalleri and Kopitar with a team-leading 20 points, didn't make the trip to San Jose while missing his third straight game with a groin injury. Cammalleri, who had a team-best 12 goals and eight assists while playing in each of the Kings' first 23 games, also was a last-minute scratch because of a groin injury.

With just one point in the Sharks' last two games, coach Ron Wilson also shook up his lineup by sitting defenseman Kyle McLaren and right wing Steve Bernier as healthy scratches.

Thornton, held scoreless in the Sharks' previous two games, got his ninth goal early on when his wrist shot fooled LaBarbera, who was heavily screened by Michalek in front.

Los Angeles tied it with a short-handed goal midway through the second period on a blunder by the Sharks' stalwart goalie, who has played in every game this season. Kopitar alertly followed up Brown's breakaway by poking the puck past Nabokov, who lost sight of it.

Because of the injuries, 37-year-old defenseman Jon Klemm played his second straight game at forward on a line with Matt Moulson and Brian Willsie. Klemm was recalled from the Kings' AHL affiliate in Manchester on Sunday to replace Jaroslav Modry, who's in the Czech Republic with his ailing father.

Notes:@ Bernier had played in every game for San Jose this year, while McLaren had missed just one contest last month. D Rob Davison and C Curtis Brown got playing time in their places. ... Luckily for Sharks fans, the Kings won't be back in San Jose until April 1. ... Two former Sharks defensemen — Brad Stuart and Tom Preissing — assisted on O'Sullivan's goal.