San Jose Sharks swamp Los Angeles Kings in 6-1 blow-out – NHL Recap
Kyle Wellwood scored a goal and two assists while Antti Niemi turned aside 31 shots, as the San Jose Sharks beat the Los Angeles Kings to seal the National Hockey League Pacific Division title for a fourth consecutive season on Monday night.
Joe Thornton had a goal and an assist to reach 999 points of his career while defensemen Dan Boyle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic each scored a goal and an assist for San Jose, which has won four straight and eight of nine contests. Joe Pavelski and Devin Setoguchi
both also notched goals for the victors.
“We have a pretty darned good division, so it’s a feather in your cap,” Thornton said. “But we still have some work to do. We’re still fighting to get that second seed. But it’s a good step for us.”
With this victory, the Sharks have 103 points and moved one point past the Detroit Red Wings for second place in the Western Conference. Both teams have three games left.
Michal Handzus tallied the lone goal for Los Angeles, which lost for the second time in seven games. Goalie Jonathan Quick was benched in the middle period after allowing four goals on16 shots for Kings. Jonathan Bernier replaced him, who then made 17 saves
the rest of the way.
After this defeat, the Kings have 96 points and remained tied for fourth-place in the Western Conference with the Phoenix Coyotes.
Defenseman Matt Greene was disappointed that his side did not perform well. He said, “They came ready to play and we didn’t. It’s a good lesson late in the year that you are never as good as you think you are.”
The Sharks got the scoring started in the second minute of the opening period when Pavelski whacked in a rebound off a shot from Torrey Mitchell for his 19th goal of the season.
Vlasic gave San Jose a 2-0 lead in the ninth minute of the first period when he unleashed a wrist shot from inside the left circle that beat Kings net-minder for his fourth goal of the season.
Handzus brought Los Angeles within one, just less than two minutes into the middle period when he knocked a rebound past Antti Niemi for his 12th goal of the season.
Sharks tallied four goals the rest of the way to preserve the victory.
Just less than a minute after the Handzus goal, Sharks took a 3-1 lead when Wellwood chipped in a rebound off a shot from Vlasic for his fifth goal of the season.
Boyle made it 4-1 for San Jose in the sixth minute of the second period when he hit a wrist shot that beat Quick.
Less than five minutes later, Thornton’s rebound goal gave the Sharks a 5-1 edge.
Devin Setoguchi scored off a wrist shot with less than a minute remaining in the second period to make it a 6-1 game.
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