Bruins lose seventh straight; longest streak since 1997

BOSTON - Jaret Stoll beat Tim Thomas in the sixth round of the shootout, giving the Los Angeles Kings their fourth straight victory, a 3-2 decision over Boston on Saturday night that sent the Bruins to their seventh straight loss.

Boston's seven-game losing streak, which started with a shootout loss in LA, is the team's longest since 1997. The Bruins' six-game home losing streak is their longest since 1924-25.

All four regulation goals were scored on the power play.

Anze Kopitar, whose first-period shot was tipped in by Dustin Brown, scored at 4:29 of the third period to tie it for the Kings.

Marco Sturm, returning from a six-game absence with a leg injury, and Mark Recchi scored for the Bruins, who had one power-play goal in their previous nine games.

Quick improved to 12-4 in shootouts, while Thomas fell to 20-21.

The Kings tied it when Kopitar rifled a long, screened wrist shot past Thomas for his 23rd goal of the season.

After the Bruins failed to get a shot on two power plays, it took the Kings 17 seconds to score on their first power play of the game, with Brown deflecting Kopitar's shot past Thomas for his 13th goal of the season.

The Kings had a goal that would have made it 2-0 taken away early in the second period. Wayne Simmonds deflected Randy Jones's shot from the point past Thomas with a high stick. The goal was waved off on the ice and the call stood under review.

Soon after the disallowed goal, Boston's Mark Stuart nailed Kopitar with what looked like a clean hit that may have been a bit high. Simmonds went right after Stuart. The pair fought and Simmonds picked up an extra minor, plus a 10-minute misconduct in addition to his fighting major, leaving the Bruins with a 4-minute power play.

But Thomas took exception to Brad Richardson taking a poke at the puck after a whistle and drew 2 minutes for high-sticking. Zdeno Chara hit the post during the 4-on-4 (the Bruins' second post of the game) and Boston wound up with a two-man advantage for 30 seconds when Rob Scuderi got a cross-checking penalty after Thomas' penalty expired.

NOTES: The game featured a goalies matchup between two of the three U.S. Olympic netminders. ... Center Steve Begin (five games) also returned to the Bruins' lineup, leaving Boston without only defenseman Andrew Ference (groin). The return of the two players led to Shawn Thornton and Vladimir Sobotka being healthy scratches. ... Kopitar extended his points streak to five straight games (4-5-9).