over his last five innings.

LOS ANGELES -- Dustin Brown can see the confidence of champions emerging in the Los Angeles Kings as they rocket ahead in the Western Conference playoff race. cheap jerseys . Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames have fallen as low in the standings as they can go. Brown scored two goals, Jonathan Quick made 23 saves and the surging Kings beat Calgary 3-1 on Monday night for their second win over the Flames in three days. Brown and Jarret Stoll scored first-period goals before Brown added an empty-netter for the defending Stanley Cup holders, who moved up to third place in the conference with their 11th win in 14 games. The victory wasnt exactly beautiful, but the Kings workmanlike play and sturdy effort pleased their captain. "When you win the Cup, you have a confidence in your group, because youve been there," Brown said. "Its just a matter of getting to work every day and doing things right, and weve been doing it lately." Despite a rough third period dominated by Calgary, the champs finished their five-game homestand with four victories. With steadily improving play after a slow start to the season, Los Angeles trails only Chicago and Anaheim in the West race. Los Angeles swept its season series with Calgary for just the second time in franchise history and the first time in 13 years. The Kings will get little chance to enjoy their achievements during their brutal March schedule featuring 17 games in 31 days: They hopped right on a plane after the game for a Pacific Division meeting with Phoenix. "The schedule is hard, (so) youve got to find different ways to hang in there," Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said. "It means youre a good hockey team when you do that. Weve found different ways to win games, and thats what you have to do. The schedule does win and lose games for teams." Mikael Backlund ruined Quicks shutout bid with 5:22 to play for last-place Calgary, which has lost six straight on the road. Joey MacDonald stopped 19 shots for the Flames, who got outscored 13-3 while losing all three games of their Southern California road trip, including a 4-0 blanking by Anaheim last week. Los Angeles routed Calgary 6-2 on Saturday, chasing Miikka Kiprusoff in the process. "I think we just got outcompeted and outplayed," captain Jarome Iginla said. "The toll is that we just dropped three games on the trip, and weve fallen way back. But theres no excuses as far as scheduling or whatever. We had a chance to come in here and pretty much catch the Kings if we could have pulled these two games out, but it goes the opposite way." After Saturdays loss by Calgary and Sundays wins by Colorado, Columbus and Edmonton, the Flames began the week in 15th place in the West. The Flames realize theyre running out of time to turn around their season, too. "When you lose a couple of games in a row, your confidence gets down a little bit, and youre not ready for the next shift, and all of a sudden its 2-0," Calgary coach Bob Hartley said. "You have to fight through that." Brown swiftly put the Kings ahead in the rematch by sneaking behind Jay Bouwmeester and tucking home a sharp cross-ice pass from Slava Voynov for his seventh goal of the season. Moving the puck swiftly and easily, Los Angeles doubled its lead four minutes later when Jake Muzzin found Stoll in the slot for a shot that dislodged the water bottle from the top of MacDonalds net. Muzzin, a rookie defenceman, had assists on both first-period goals, giving him 10 points this season -- the same number as Drew Doughty, Los Angeles $56-million former Norris Trophy finalist and playoff hero. Muzzin also has five goals -- five more than Doughty, and tops among NHL rookie defencemen -- and a plus-11 rating in his breakout season. After a scoreless second period, the Kings killed off a 27-second two-man disadvantage early in the third. Calgary kept dominating play, and Backlund finally capitalized when he undressed defenceman Alec Martinez and beat Quick low for his fourth goal of the season. The Kings didnt even need a goal from Jeff Carter to wrap up their eighth home victory in nine games. The power forward had scored 13 of his 17 goals in his last 13 games, putting him in a second-place tie in the Richard Trophy race. NOTES: Kings C Tyler Toffoli was a healthy scratch, delaying his NHL debut. The high-scoring 20-year-old prospect was recalled Sunday from the AHL. ... Calgary D Cory Sarich, a healthy scratch in nine consecutive games, returned to the lineup in place of Derek Smith. Sarich hadnt played since Feb. 18. Flames LW Curtis Glencross missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. ... Welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov attended the game, sporting a Kings jersey and cheering for Voynov, his fellow Russian. The Freddie Roach-trained boxer will take on unbeaten WBO champion Timothy Bradley in nearby Carson, Calif., on Saturday night. wholesale jerseys . He had great success against them during his days in the NL. And he really enjoys Wrigley Field. cheap jerseys from china . There was Lupuls promising 53-point sophomore season for Carlyles Anaheim Ducks in 2005-06. There was an injury-shortened 2009-10 campaign and a frustration-loaded return the following season. http://www.chinajerseyschance.us.com/ . Despite nearing official elimination, the Oilers still slammed the Predators, 6-3, in Tuesdays game at Nashville. Ales Hemsky recorded his first career hat trick to lift the Oilers to the easy win at Bridgestone Arena. BALTIMORE -- There might come a time in the near future when Brian Matusz can go deeper in games and perhaps finish what he started. For now, the left-hander will have to be content with doing quality work in shorter spurts before giving way to the Baltimore bullpen. Matusz and three relievers combined on a seven-hitter, and the Orioles beat Oakland 4-2 Monday night to extend the Athletics losing streak to a season-high seven games. Matusz (1-0) allowed two runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings in his second start of the season. He spent the first two months on the DL with a strained left oblique muscle. "Well, I went out there and was able to go as deep as I can and give the team a chance to win. Thats all you ask for," Matusz said. "Obviously Id like to be able to go longer, help out the bullpen a little bit, but they did a great job." The 24-year-old was lifted in the sixth after giving up successive one-out singles to Kurt Suzuki and pinch-hitter Scott Sizemore, who was recalled from triple-A Sacramento hours earlier. Jim Johnson entered and got Adam Rosales to bounce into a 1-6-3 double play. Johnson retired the side in order in the seventh, Koji Uehara worked a perfect eighth and Kevin Gregg got three straight outs for his 11th save. "Its a lot of fun playing like that," said Matusz, who has won seven straight decisions dating back to last August. Matt Wieters had two hits, an RBI and scored a run for the Orioles, who took a 4-0 lead after two innings against Gio Gonzalez (5-4). Baltimore had lost 20 of its last 24 games against Oakland and was swept in a three-game series last week. Rosales homered for the As, who have lost 15 of 19 to fall a season-worst seven games under .500 (27-34). "Each one its something different," manager Bob Geren said. "The majority were well-pitched games. Tonight we got two runs. Its a combinatiion -- we havent played well the past week, the total package. cheap nfl jerseys. We have to play better." There was one positive note: Rosales played in his first game of the year after a stint on the disabled list with a broken right foot. The Orioles took a 1-0 lead with an unearned first-inning run. After shortstop Cliff Pennington muffed a potential double-play grounder, Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-out RBI single. Baltimore made it 4-0 in the second. Derrek Lee led off with a single, stole second and continued to third on an overthrow by Suzuki. Wieters followed with an RBI single, J.J. Hardy singled, and both moved up on a wild pitch before Nolan Reimold hit a sacrifice fly and Nick Markakis singled in a run. The As two errors gave them 45 for the season. Oakland started the day with the second-most errors in the AL, two behind Texas. Rosales connected in the fourth with a man on. It was his first home run since July 18, 2010, at Kansas City. "Obviously that homer was exciting. It got us back in the game," Geren said. "I like the energy he brings and the talent also. Very nice impact the first game. It was a losing cause but he was a highlight reel." Gonzalez gave up four runs, three earned, and nine hits in seven innings. He permitted only three hits over his last five innings. "Once I started getting in the groove I started attacking the zone," Gonzalez said. "Its just one of those situations -- theyre aggressive, theyre swinging the bats, they just got a bunch of hits." NOTES: Oakland 2B Mark Ellis left in the sixth inning with a right hamstring strain. ... To make room for Rosales and Sizemore on the 25-man roster, the As optioned third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff and right-hander Fautino De Los Santos to Sacramento. ... Markakis has hit in 160 consecutive series, the longest active streak in the majors. wholesale authentic nfl jerseys ' ' '