Familiar Fin-ish as Kings Wallop Sharks 4-1
The Los Angeles Kings defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Tuesday night, September 30th, at SAP Pavilion in San Jose. It was the Kings fourth preseason game. It was the first time the two teams have met since the Kings came back from a three-games-to-zero deficit in the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Reminiscent of the first round of the playoffs, the Sharks scored first. It would be their only goal of the night, as the Kings came back with four unanswered goals.
The Sharks jumped on the Kings out of the gate, getting the puck into the Kings zone and working a cycle down low. Quick made his first save of the game freezing the puck. Off the next face-off, about a minute and thirty-seconds into the game, the Sharks continued to move the puck around the zone. After getting out to the point Sharks defensemen Taylor Fedun moved the puck to Joe Thornton at the front of the net catching Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick out of position. Thornton backhanded the puck into the open net. 1-0 Sharks.
Just past the twelve-minute mark San Jose forward Tommy Wingels took a two-minute penalty for hooking. It took the Kings all of fifteen-seconds to capitalize. Kings winger Justin Williams made a nice little saucer pass over to defensemen Drew Doughty to enter the zone. Doughty came in one-on-one, made some space for himself and snapped a quick wristshot top-corner. In his first preseason game of the season Doughty immediately demonstrates his impact with a powerplay goal. 1-1 Kings.
Apr 30, 2014; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan instructs against the Los Angeles Kings during the third period in game seven of the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center at San Jose. The Kings defeated the Sharks 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The Kings pounced on the Sharks coming out of the first intermission. Forty-five seconds into the period the Kings first line created a three-on-two rush into the Sharks zone. Winger Jordan Nolan attempted to fire a pass cross-ice to winger Dustin Brown; Brown was crashing the far side of the net off the Kings zone entry. Nolan’s pass hit Kings centermen Anze Kopitar and deflected to Brown, who buried the pinballing puck. After heavy criticism in the offseason of Brown’s lack of point generation during the 2013-2014 regular season, Brown scores on his first preseason game appearance. 2-1 Kings.
A powerplay opportunity in the second period didn’t generate much offense for the Kings. Despite failing to take advantage on the powerplay, with time dwindling down the Kings worked the puck down low behind the Sharks net. Kings forward Dwight King came around the net and fed a pass to Justin Williams who spun off his pursuing defender and snapped a shot past Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi. 3-1 Kings.
The Kings flexed their muscles during the second period, and took the game over. During the last four minutes of the period the Sharks were pinned in their defensive zone.
The third period was a lackluster effort for the Sharks. Mistakes piled up and led to a number of odd-man rushes. Mike Richards had a good chance on a failed Sharks breakout, attempting to deke past Niemi but was denied. With a little less than eight minutes left in the game, the Kings had another odd-man rush opportunity and Dwight King was able to fit a tight shot from a sharp angle past Niemi. 4-1 Kings.
Conn Smythe winner Justin Williams was the first star of the game finishing with three points: one goal, two assists. King and Kopitar were second and third stars, respectively. Each had two points, for King one of them was a goal.
Kings goalie Martin Jones relieved Jonathan Quick at the start of the third period. Quick made sixteen saves on seventeen shots, for a .941 save percentage. Jones stopped all seven of the shots he faced. Good to see Quick getting some work in during the preseason, but it was a cunning move by Head Coach Darryl Sutter to take him out of a game the Kings had sealed up.