Patrick Marleau scored a goal and added two assists, and Joe Thornton scored a goal and added a helper, as the San Jose Sharks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2.
Kings Vs. Sharks: Marleau Leads Second Period Frenzy, San Jose Tops L.A.
San Jose scored four straight goals, sandwiched between single tallies from the Kings, as the Sharks doubled up Los Angeles, 4-2.
After a scoreless first period in which the Kings outshot San Jose, 14-7, Los Angeles defenseman Jack Johnson opened up the scoring at the 6:19 mark of the second. Off an offensive zone faceoff win by Mike Richards, Anze Kopitar got the puck back to Drew Doughty at the left point. Doughty went point-to-point with a perfectly flat pass, and Johnson's one-timer went right between Dustin Brown's skates in front of the Sharks' net and past a screened Antti Niemi for his fourth of the season to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.
San Jose turned up the pressure and L.A. wasn’t able to match the home team’s intensity.
Thornton, who scored the series-clinching goal in overtime of Game 6 of the Western Conference quarterfinals last spring to knock the Kings out of the postseason, evened the score with 8:21 remaining in the stanza. Gathering the puck just to Jonathan Quick's left, Thornton made a spin move to elude defenseman Rob Scuderi, then flipped a backhander past the Kings' goalie for his fourth of the season.
“I just banked it in off his glove,” Thornton said just after the goal. “It’s probably one that he (Quick) would like to have back, but it’s a goal.”
It wouldn’t stay even for very long, as the Sharks would score for a second time in just 56 seconds midway through the middle frame.
Defenseman Dan Boyle skated the puck from deep in his own zone, crossed the Los Angeles blueline, then jammed on the breaks. He surveyed the ice surface and waited for Marleau to head to the net. As Marleau gained a bit of separation from Simon Gagne, Boyle wristed a low, hard pass towards the net that Marleau was able to get his stick on and deflect past Quick and high into the Los Angeles net. Marleau's fourth of the year staked the Sharks to a 2-1 lead.
With Matt Greene already in the penalty box for interference, Willie Mitchell was caught cross-checking Logan Couture in front of the Kings' crease to give San Jose a two-man advantage last in the second. Joe Pavelski's shot was blocked and the puck went back to the high slot area, where Boyle stepped into a one-timer slap shot. The defenseman caught every bit of it and sent a scorching shot past Quick's blocker into the upper portion of the net. It was Boyle's first of the season, and gave the Sharks some breathing room at 3-1 with 2:58 left in the period.
Aided by four power plays during the second, San Jose outshot the Kings by a 21-8 margin in the period.
The third began much the same way the second had ended, as Couture was able to backhand the rebound of a Marc-Edouard Vlasic shot past Quick for his sixth of the year to expand the Sharks' lead to 4-1 at the 6:40 mark.
Colin White took a two-minute minor for cross-checking Trevor Lewis, and Los Angeles wasted little time in pulling back to within two goals. Kopitar scored his eighth of the season just 18 seconds after White went to the sin bin, making it a 4-2 contest with 11:32 left.
Quick was pulled for an extra attacker with 1:22 left in regulation, but the Kings couldn’t get any closer.
San Jose upped its record to 7-2-1 in the last 10 contests, and Niemi stopped 29 of 31 L.A. shots in snapping a three-game winless skid.
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