San Jose Sharks dealt heavy blow as Los Angeles Kings pound them in 5-2 victory - NHL Update
San Jose Sharks bid to gain another back to back Pacific division title plus qualify for the playoffs was dealt another big blow as they lost 5-2 on the road to division rivals Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, March 20, 2012.
The Kings were rampant in attack as they completely outclassed their opponents and the two points put them right back in eighth in the Western Conference.
San Jose were outshot 42-22 and could not keep pace with the Kings who may have just ended the Sharks bid for the playoffs.
The defeat drops the Sharks down to tenth in the conference with 82-points.
There was a playoff atmosphere at the STAPLES Center, as a raucous capacity crowd of 18,000 cheered on the Kings who delivered a wonderful performance.
Two third period goals from Dustin Penner and Jeff Carter put the game to bed as the Kings fine performance took their winning run to five straight games.
Anze Kopitar delivered one of his best performances of the season with two assists and capped it with a brilliant power play goal early in the final period.
The forward basked in the glory of such an important victory and said after the game.
"I don't know if you want to wait until the end of the year to play like this, but we're doing it now. It's nice to see us in the playoff picture, but we know there's still a lot of work to be done. We're definitely showing signs. Tonight was a huge game.
We knew what was at stake, and I think we came up big."
For the Sharks it was another disappointment as they once again failed to deliver when the stakes were the highest.
They now trail the eighth placed Kings by two points and could still make it but performances have to improve dramatically.
Coach Todd McLellan praised Los Angeles’ performance after the game.
"They were harder on the boards. They won more board battles. They came up with loose pucks on their forecheck more than they came up with loose pucks on ours. That wore us out a little."
The game started off with both teams looking for a good start early on.
However, it was the Kings who took their chance as Mike Richards put his team 1-0 up with a brilliant goal even though Los Angeles were shorthanded.
It took the Sharks just seconds to equalise as Martin Havlat responded with a powerful shot on the power play that beat goaltender Jonathan Quick.
With the score tied at 1-1 it took a late second period goal by Alec Martinez to put the Kings back in the driving seat.
This time though Los Angeles maintained their advantage and then doubled it early in the third period as Anze Kopitar scored on the power play to make it 3-1.
Two minutes later Sharks Dan Boyle pegged back Los Angeles’ lead to just a single goal, however, that would be the last time the faltering Sharks would beat Quick.
The Kings responded with two goals from Dustin Penner and Jeff Carter to run out 5-2 winners.
Los Angeles will now look to make it six wins in a row when they face St. Louis Blues on Thursday at the STAPLES Center while the Sharks will need to win against Boston Bruins at home if they wish to remain relevant.
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