Williams ends a drought

CALGARY, CANADA —  Long streaks -- winning and losing ones -- are notable in the NHL because they’re so rare.

So Saturday when the Kings skated into Calgary’s Saddledome, where they hadn’t won in five seasons, to meet a Flames team that hadn’t lost in nearly three weeks, you figured something had to give.

And in this case it was the Kings’ bad luck that gave, with Justin Williams scoring one goal, assisting on two others and then scoring the deciding goal in the seventh round of a dramatic shootout that made them 4-3 winners over the resilient Flames.

The win not only ended an 11-game losing streak in Calgary that dated to December 2005, but it also lifted the Kings into the top eight in the skintight Western Conference playoff race.

But first they had to overcome a gutty performance by Calgary’s Alex Tanguay, who scored tying goals in both the second and third period to send the game to overtime.

Tanguay’s second score, 11:15 into the final period, came a little more than a minute after the Kings’ Anze Kopitar was sent off for holding and was only the second power-play goal the Kings have given up in six games.

And it seemed to set the Flames -- riding a six-game winning streak, their longest in three seasons -- up for another win. But the Kings have been almost as good as Calgary over their last six games going 5-0-1, and weren’t about to fade. And neither team folded in the shootout, going seven rounds before Kings goalie Jonathan Quick emerged with his sixth shootout win in as many tries this season.

The Flames have a league-best seven wins in shootouts -- but after Saturday, they’ve lost five shootouts.

Both teams, who entered the night tied in the standings, came out aggressively, with each scoring a goal in the opening 81 seconds.

The first came from Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi just 39 seconds in on a try that Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff originally stopped, only to have the puck trickle away and cross the goal line.

But the Flames tied it 42 seconds later on a wrister from Robyn Regehr at the blue line that eluded Quick, who appeared to be screened by Kopitar on the play.

Dustin Brown put the Kings back in front on a power play at 6:17, planting himself at the goal post to Kiprusoff’s right, from where he batted home a pass from Williams.

The goal, Brown’s 18th on the season, was the third in five tries for the suddenly resurgent Kings power play and only the second Calgary’s penalty killers have given up in 21 chances.

The teams exchanged goals again in the second period with the Flames scoring first, 45 seconds after the intermission, when Tanguay banged home Brendan Morrison’s pass off the end boards.

The Kings answered on Williams’ blast from between the circles to go back in front, 3-2, at 11:02.

The score gave Williams a share of the team lead with 19 goals.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com