The Los Angeles Kings avoided going down a 3-0 series hole when forward Tanner Pearson beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones between the legs in overtime to win Game 3 for Los Angeles by the score of 2-1 in San Jose. With the win, the Kings cut the Sharks lead in the best of seven series to 2-1 with two games in each city remaining, including Wednesday’s Game 4 at SAP Center. Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in the victory, while Jones made 23 in his team’s loss.
Early in the first period the game looked like San Jose’s to lose when Joe Thornton circled around the Kings defense and fired a wrist shot past Quick just 30 seconds into the game to give the Sharks the 1-0 lead. The goal came on San Jose’s first shot of the game with forward Tomas Hertl adding the assist.
A Tommy Wingels hook on Kings defensemen Drew Doughty led to a Kings power play, where nifty passing from Milan Lucic and Jake Muzzin lead to a tap in goal for Anze Kopitar to tie the game at 8:10 of the first period.
After the two teams combined for a goal or better in all seven previous periods, neither the Sharks or the Kings could beat the goalies in the second or third periods. Quick stopped the 20 shots he faced in the combined two periods while Jones stopped nine.
The Kings crushed the Sharks on the hit totals, with 61 hits to San Jose’s 39. Los Angeles also drew more penalties than the Sharks, but San Jose wasn’t able to capitalize on the five power plays they were given.
Game 4 is on Wednesday, April 20 in San Jose at 7:30 pm.
(Article taken from the SRJC Oak Leaf, see the original here.)
Lach in the Crease 