Going from famine to feast in the space of a few hours, the Los
Angeles Kings scored on three of their first four shots in the
third period Monday to turn San Jose goaltender Antti Niemi’s
budding masterpiece into a paint-by-numbers work left out in the
rain. Trevor Lewis and Marco Sturm scored on the Kings’ 31st and
32nd shots against the Sharks and Dustin Brown scored twice _ the
second a skillful backhand after capturing a puck flipped to him by
Anze Kopitar _ to lead the Kings to a 4-0 victory at the HP
Pavilion and their first sweep of a back-to-back sequence for the
first time in four tries this season.
SAN JOSE
Going from famine to feast in the space of a few hours, the Los Angeles Kings scored on three of their first four shots in the third period Monday to turn San Jose goaltender Antti Niemi’s budding masterpiece into a paint-by-numbers work left out in the rain.
Trevor Lewis and Marco Sturm scored on the Kings’ 31st and 32nd shots against the Sharks and Dustin Brown scored twice _ the second a skillful backhand after capturing a puck flipped to him by Anze Kopitar _ to lead the Kings to a 4-0 victory at the HP Pavilion and their first sweep of a back-to-back sequence for the first time in four tries this season.
The Kings, who rode a strong second period Sunday to beat the Ducks, had a surprising amount of energy Monday. From start to finish they played well in front of Jonathan Quick, who made 24 saves to earn his fourth shutout this season and second in three starts. In winning their fifth game in their last six, the Kings ended San Jose’s four-game winning streak and balanced their record against the Sharks this season at 1-1.
“You can’t really say enough about the way the team played,” Quick said. “San Jose is one of the top teams in the league and really we brought our ‘A’ game.”
Lewis scored at 2:08 after Brad Richardson won the puck despite being hounded by three Sharks and passed to the rookie center in the slot. Sturm, a former Shark, scored his first goal as a King at 3:19, taking a pass from Kopitar and sending a knuckler through Niemi’s pads. Niemi might have been expecting Kopitar to deflect the shot but Sturm’s shot wiggled through unaided.
Brown recorded his 18th point in his last 12 games when he beat Joe Pavelski to rifle home the rebound of a shot by Drew Doughty that Niemi had saved but couldn’t control. Brown took the team lead in goals when he caught up to a long lead pass Kopitar had lofted in the air and controlled the bouncing puck before slicing it past Niemi while the teams were skating four on four.
“We got that first goal and maybe broke his will a little bit,” Brown said.
Niemi was the story of the first period, stopping all 16 shots by the aggressive and energetic Kings. He was masterful at keeping the puck in front of him and controlling his rebounds, though on one occasion he looked over his shoulder to see if a shot by Justin Williams had wormed its way through his pads.
Quick faced only six shots in the first period but got a bit more of a workout in the second. He, too, was sharp, especially in making a chest save on a blistering shot by defenseman Dan Boyle on the right side just over four minutes into the period.
The Sharks began to assert themselves late in the second period, inspiring chants of “Beat L.A.” from the always-lively crowd, but Quick was up to the test. And so was Niemi, who tracked the puck well even when the Kings got a little fancy.
Jack Johnson made a highlight-reel play just over 11 minutes into the period when he slipped the puck back between his legs to an onrushing Brown, but his shot was gloved by Niemi.
The third period was like another game for the Kings, who seemed to solve Niemi at will.
Even though they were missing left wing Alexei Ponikarovsky, who suffered a lower-body injury Sunday, their overall defensive play more than compensated for his absence.
Kopitar said the Kings’ persistence was the key.
“That’s one of the things we’ve improved on as a team, as opposed to just sitting back,” he said. “Just going after them again. That’s where you step on their throat and put them right away. That’s what good teams do.”
— Story by Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times
