The San Jose Sharks took a stranglehold on their playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, winning Game 4 by a score of 3-2 with all three goals coming on power plays. The Sharks now have a 3-1 series lead in the best-of-seven with the chance to eliminate the Kings and advance to the second round on Friday in LA.
After a Game 3 where San Jose’s power play unit was held off the scoresheet on five attempts, the Sharks made sure it wouldn’t happen again. When Jeff Carter was thrown into the penalty box for roughing early in the second period, Brent Burns capitalized on a one-timer past Jonathan Quick to give the Sharks the first goal of the night. Joel Ward and Marc-Edouard Vlasic got the assists on the power play goal.
Around the midway point of the second period, Kings defensemen Rob Scuderi was called for tripping on Sharks forward Tomas Hertl. On the ensuing power play, San Jose circled around the LA goal crease before Joe Pavelski tapped a Joe Thornton pass in past Quick to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
In the third period another Kings penalty lead to a quick goal for Patrick Marleau, with the assists coming from Burns and Logan Couture at 1:40 of the period. The Sharks seemed to have the game wrapped up until Kings forward Trevor Lewis tipped a Luke Schenn shot past Martin Jones to get the Kings on the board just two minutes after the Marleau goal.
Schenn was a spark plug for the Kings in Game 4, beating Jones straight through to make it a one-goal game with just over 13 minutes to go. The Kings pressed in the last half of the third, but Jones would play late game hero once again, finishing the night with 26 saves for the win. Quick made 26 saves of his own in the loss.
The Sharks will look to eliminate the Kings in Game 5 on Friday April 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Lach in the Crease 