Los Angeles, CA (My Sportsbook) - Ryan Kesler scored the tying goal late in regulation and netted the winner 46 seconds into overtime, as Vancouver continued its push for a playoff spot with a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Winners of three straight, the Canucks now have 80 points, tying Colorado for the seventh spot in the Western Conference, although the Avalanche have the advantage with two more victories. The Canucks are a point behind Minnesota for sixth.

Incredibly, only four points separate the top four teams in the Northwest Division. Calgary is first with 82, followed by the Wild, Avalanche and Canucks.

Roberto Luongo had 17 saves and Alexandre Burrows tallied a pair of assists for Vancouver, which gained its first win over the Kings in four meetings this season.

Patrick O'Sullivan had the lone goal for the Kings, who were trying to sweep the Canucks in the season series for the first time since 1980-81. Dan Cloutier made 38 saves for Los Angeles, which has lost seven of its last eight contests.

"We made a young mistake at the end of the game," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "We had full possession of the puck twice in our zone. We threw the puck away, it didn't get past the neutral zone. And then on the reverse, we had total possession of the puck too and we rushed a play. That's what happens when you have youth in your lineup, you're going to make youthful mistakes."

Kesler tied the game with 2:41 remaining in regulation. The Kings failed to clear the puck from their zone and Burrows sent the puck on net from the left side of the ice. The puck deflected off the skate of Kings defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky and in front to Kesler, who swept a backhand at the puck into an open net.

The Kings managed to kill off an interference penalty to Rob Blake, which lasted into the first 30 seconds of overtime. However, the Canucks kept up the pressure, and nearly scored when Mattias Ohlund caromed a shot off the post about 30 seconds into the OT.

Burrows then passed the puck from the left side to Willie Mitchell above the right circle. Mitchell blasted the puck toward the net, and Kesler, stationed in front, deflected it past a screened Cloutier.

"We knew we were playing a solid game and throwing pucks on net," Kesler said. "Cloutier was playing really well, and we just kept saying that if we got some traffic and pucks in front of the net that something would go in and that's kind of how it happened. The puck was just lying there, and I got my stick on it."

Cloutier stopped 13 shots in both the first and second periods, and the Kings finally broke through for the initial goal 8:27 into the third. Dustin Brown passed the puck from the right circle to the bottom of the left, where O'Sullivan roofed the disc over the glove of Luongo.

"We played a really good game the whole time, and unfortunately they got the lead at the end there on a bad break when Willie's stick broke," Luongo said. "We stuck with it and we got a really good goal at the end, and another huge goal at the end there from Kesler."

Earlier, the Canucks nearly scored with 5:52 left in the second. The puck caromed off the right post, and Brad Isbister pushed Cloutier into the net with the puck underneath him. Officials ruled no goal since Cloutier was driven into the net.

Game Notes

The Canucks were 0-for-4 on the power play, while LA missed on all three of its chances with the man advantage...Vancouver plays at Anaheim on Wednesday, while the Kings are on the road against Nashville on Thursday...The Kings are tied with Tampa Bay for last in the NHL with 60 points...Canucks center Brendan Morrison, who had been out since December 10 due to wrist surgery, returned and played eight minutes.