San Jose Sharks snap Los Angeles Kings' win-streak
The conference-leading Los Angeles Kings had their six-game winning streak halted by the San Jose Sharks who earned an impressive 6-3 home win on Monday 15 November.
How it happened
Scott Parse got the scoring started with his first of the season to put the Kings into a lead with less than four minutes remaining in the first period. The Sharks answered with two goals in just over
a minute, the first from Ryane Clowe with his fourth of the year and the second from Torrey Mitchell with his third, to lead 2-1 after 20 minutes.
The Sharks and Kings traded second period goals with the Sharks striking first through Scott Nichol who notched his second of the season. But the Kings answered through Ryan Smyth who got his fifth of
the year to keep the score close going into the third.
The Sharks pulled away in the third period with two power play goals. Patrick Marleau got his seventh of the season while the Sharks had the man advantage early in the period while Joe Pavelski scored
the team's second power play goal of the game with under four minutes to go to round out the scoring.
Jarret Stoll had scored his sixth of the season for the Kings to bring the score back to 4-3, but Dany Heatly scored his seventh of the year just 43 seconds later to dash Kings' hopes of mounting a comeback.
What they're saying
Going into the game the Kings had been leading the conference, so Sharks coach Todd McLellan was obviously delighted with the way his team performed against such stiff competition.
"Of late, the most complete game was tonight's," he told reporters after the game. "They've reset the bar, and they've done it themselves. L.A.'s obviously the measuring tool – not only in our conference,
but maybe in the League. It just goes to show if we play the right way and we execute properly, we have the ability to do it. It's a matter of getting it done on a nightly basis."
Kings coach Terry Murray, unlike his counterpart, was frustrated with the way his team played, "They beat us in the transition game, and our management of the puck killed us," he said. "They rammed it
right down our throats every time we tried to do something with the management of the puck."
Los Angeles remain one point ahead of the Detroit Red Wings for top spot in the Western Conference, but the Red Wings do have a game in hand. They get set to play the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday
17 November.
The Sharks have now won four of their last five games as they play catch up on the division leading Kings. They get set to take on the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.
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