Apr 22, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) grabs the skate of San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture (39) in the third period in game three of the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The San Jose Sharks have taken a 3-0 lead in the series against the Los Angeles Kings with a 4-3 overtime win. The Kings had battled and put up a fight the entire game, but unfortunately, San Jose now has a commanding lead in the series. Sure there is another game to play for Los Angeles, but this was a heartbreaker. Enter Pat Benetar.
San Jose got the game going when Brent Burns slapped in a “knuckleball” of a shot past Jonathan Quick, which blew everyone’s mind when it went in. It was the ugliest of goals, but it counted. San Jose went up, 1-0.
Despite the score, both teams were matching the other’s intensity and playing each other tough. The Sharks kept things close in the stats department, but the Kings had a slight lead in shots (8-7) and hits (19-18) for the first period.
The Kings had a scare at one point when their top defender, Drew Doughty, took a hit, which had him go back to the locker room. Despite the scare that would give any fan base a heart attack, he came back into the game with five minutes left in the period.
The Sharks’ Jason Demers gave the Kings a chance to get in the game at the start of the second period when he let the puck sail over the glass when trying to clear it. Delay of game and LA was going up 5 men to 4.
The Kings took advantage of their power play on their first shot when Tyler Toffoli sent a perfectly placed pass between two Sharks defenders to Jarret Stoll who one-timed it and got the tie.
A few minutes later, Marian Gaborik had lead a charge into the Kings offensive zone with a 3-on-2. He went towards the net looking at his passing options the entire time and back-handed it at the last moment to give the Kings the lead, 2-1.
Soon after, Matt Nieto was able to capitalize on Quick getting inadvertently dropped by his own teammate Robyn Regehr. Quick laid flat on his stomach and the goal went in behind him. The Sharks tie it up, 2-2.
The third period started with the Kings finding some much needed offense.
Anze Koitar took advantage of the Sharks changing lines and had enough time to set up his shot which Jeff Cater deflected in. The Kings go up 3-2.
But this was nowhere near over. San Jose had kept pushing back and getting the Kings on their heels whilst on defense. A shot in front of net had Tomas Hertl whacking at a puck that Jonathan Quick thought he had frozen. The puck was live and the game was tied, 3-3.
The game intensified when Stoll was called for interference with about two minutes left in the game. That is right, the Kings were on the penalty kill for the remainder of regulation. Luckily they killed it and were sending it to an extra period.
Despite dominating the beginning of overtime, especially with the flurry of shots by the Kings in the first four minutes, San Jose got another fluke goal. Patrick Marleau flipped in a “shot” that hit the stick of Slava Voynov and re-directed the puck into the net for the 4-3 win and put San Jose up in the series 3-0.
Deflating, yes. Soul-crushing, yes. At this point, the Los Angeles Kings need to win four in a row if they want to make it to the next round. It can be done, but it has not been done often. Still, there is another game to play. The two teams next meet Thursday at Staples Center.
Mike W.R.
Twitter: @TheBigDisco