Stud: Darcy Kuemper, G
Since he returned from a lower-body injury last week for the Kings in this five-game road trip that he originally suffered a couple of weeks ago on Oct. 13 against the Minnesota Wild, Kuemper has a 3-0-1 record for LA in net.
He stopped a season-high 38 shots and kept the Sharks off the scoreboard for the game's first period, despite San Jose getting nearly a half-dozen scoring chances.
Kuemper has been outstanding in the crease for the Kings in the past week or so in this five-game road trip in the Western Conference. He's registered a .915 or better save percentage in three of the past four starts, which all resulted in wins for the Kings in this West road trip in this past week.
The Sharks were relentess in getting shots and scoring chances against the Kings' goal with Kuemper. Yesterday, Kuemper stopped a season-high 21 scoring chances in the win over the Sharks on the road (per Natural Stat Trick).
Kuemper made some fantastic saves down the stretch in this game for the Kings. He stopped 16 out of 17 shots on goal from the Sharks in the game's final 10 minutes in the third period.
It's clear that Kuemper has started to regain the Vezina Trophy finalist form in between the pipes for the Kings this fall since he's returned from the lower-body injury in late October for the Kings.