Born on the first of January, Devin Setoguchi has become
accustomed to combined birthday-New Year’s Eve festivities as of
late. That couldn’t happen as 2011 arrived, however, so he saved
the partying until 18:04 of the second period Saturday night when
he scored the game’s lone goal as the Sharks edged the Los Angeles
Kings, 1-0.
LOS ANGELES
Born on the first of January, Devin Setoguchi has become accustomed to combined birthday-New Year’s Eve festivities as of late.
That couldn’t happen as 2011 arrived, however, so he saved the partying until 18:04 of the second period Saturday night when he scored the game’s lone goal as the Sharks edged the Los Angeles Kings, 1-0.
“Last night I was in bed by 11:30,” said Setoguchi, who turned 24 and was playing on his birthday for the first time in his four NHL seasons. “Usually I’m up celebrating.”
Unfortunately for any late-night plans Setoguchi might have had, the Sharks were about to face a Los Angeles team that embarrassed them 4-0 at HP Pavilion five nights earlier.
Setoguchi’s goal stood up as the winner because of another strong performance by goalie Antti Niemi, who made 29 saves to earn his second shutout as a Shark. Niemi was also in the net in the previous game against the Kings, blanking them for two periods before everything fell apart.
Niemi said the Sharks learned from their collective mistakes in Monday’s loss.
“We wanted to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen that happened in San Jose in the third,” Niemi said of the team’s mindset after the second period. “We were more ready this time. We knew pretty much what was their strength and what to do against it.”
Until Setoguchi scored, Saturday night’s game bore a strong resemblance to the earlier one, as the Kings had twice as many shots as the Sharks, yet neither team was on the scoreboard.
San Jose actually had the best opportunity to take the lead midway through the first period when the Sharks had a two-man advantage for 1:57. But there wasn’t a lot of movement on the power play, and Kings goalie Jonathan Quick wasn’t really tested.
Meanwhile, Niemi was coming up big in the opening 20 minutes, losing his stick as he fended off a slap shot by Drew Doughty and holding his ground against ex-Shark Marco Sturm on an odd-man rush.
“Our goalie was tremendous,” coach Todd McLellan said. “He made some very good saves, especially in the first half of the game. He’s been in some pressure-type situations obviously in his young career, and I thought he looked comfortable in the net tonight.”
Initially, it was more of the same in the second period as the Sharks again had the best scoring chance — a breakaway by Kent Huskins as he exited the penalty box — yet were outshot by the Kings 12-6.
But Setoguchi made that sixth shot count, taking a breakout pass from Huskins into the offensive zone, waiting for Joe Thornton to provide a little traffic and then snapping off a 36-foot shot that zipped below Quick’s blocker.
“Jumbo drove the net and pushed two guys back,” Setoguchi said. “I got a chance to walk to the top of the circles and take a quick shot on net.”
The game wouldn’t win many style points, but McLellan wasn’t complaining. “They’re not all pretty,” he said. “Sometimes you win, and you’re not completely pleased with the night, but you find a way. To keep that team off the scoreboard was obviously a pretty good accomplishment on our behalf.”
The Kings had lost their two previous games, but it wasn’t for lack of offense as they scored seven goals while giving up 13. The Sharks and their coach all played down the importance of offsetting that 4-0 loss, rejecting the idea that another defeat at the hands of the Kings would have given Los Angeles any mental edge.
Still, Setoguchi was hopeful his team would get a boost after “not putting a good performance in at all in our rink and then coming in here and stealing a win.”
The Sharks play six of their next seven games at HP Pavilion, starting Monday night against the Vancouver Canucks.
— Story by David Pollak, San Jose Mercury News
