MALKIN CROWNS KINGS ROOKIE SCORES TWO GOALS, INCLUDING WINNER IN OT PITTSBURGH 4, KINGS 3 (OT).

Byline: RICH HAMMOND  Staff Writer

There's been talk of changing NHL scheduling so that Western Conference and Eastern Conference teams play each other every year, but the Kings probably don't want to see Pittsburgh again for a while.

The much-heralded debut of budding superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in Los Angeles went in the Penguins' favor as Malkin scored two goals, including the winner 2:45 into overtime, and Crosby had three assists in the Penguins' 4-3 victory over the Kings in front of 18,118 at Staples Center.

``They're two really talented young guys and they're going to be prominent players in this league for years to come,'' Kings defenseman Mattias Norstrom said. ``They showed how good they are and how good they're going to be.''

Dustin Brown and Rob Blake scored in the first five minutes of the second period to give the Kings a 3-2 lead, but Noah Welch tied the score 7:47 into the thirdperiod and Malkin provided the power-play winner.

Sergei Gonchar's slap shot deflected off goalie Dan Cloutier, and Malkin pounced on the rebound and fired a laser from the middle of the right faceoff circle for his seventh goal in six NHL games.

``It's on my head,'' said Norstrom, who had taken a tripping penalty 82 seconds earlier. ``You can't be in the box in overtime. It's just a penalty I can't take in that situation.''

Malkin became the first player in 89 years to score goals in each of his first six games, with his first goal Wednesday coming on a slick pass from Crosby from behind the net that gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

With that, a large portion of the crowd turned on Cloutier and began chanting for backup Mathieu Garon, whose 1.72 goals-against average has made him a popular choice to unseat Cloutier, the goalie who signed a two-year, $6.2 million extension last month but entered the game with a 3.44 goals-against average.

Notes: Amid widespread speculation in Canada that the Kings were about to complete a trade for Ottawa forward Daniel Alfredsson, Senators GM John Muckler publicly denied the rumor and said he was not including Alfredsson in any trade talks. ... Kings forward Jeff Cowan, who crashed head first into the end boards Monday, will miss at least another week with chest and shoulder pain, coach Marc Crawford said.

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The Kings' Michael Cammalleri scores in the second period against Pittsburgh.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer