The Kings’ season has come down to one game, one last chance to
make a statement and show some significant progress in their
never-ending, decades-long rebuilding process. Unable to stifle the
San Jose Sharks’ potent offense for a second straight game, the
Kings on Thursday gave up three goals in the third period of a 6-3
loss that put them on the brink of playoff elimination. The Sharks
took a 3-1 series lead and can advance to the second round with a
victory on Saturday in Game 5 at HP Pavilion. Should the Kings win,
a sixth game will be played Monday at Staples Center.
LOS ANGELES
The Kings’ season has come down to one game, one last chance to make a statement and show some significant progress in their never-ending, decades-long rebuilding process.
Unable to stifle the San Jose Sharks’ potent offense for a second straight game, the Kings on Thursday gave up three goals in the third period of a 6-3 loss that put them on the brink of playoff elimination.
The Sharks took a 3-1 series lead and can advance to the second round with a victory on Saturday in Game 5 at HP Pavilion. Should the Kings win, a sixth game will be played Monday at Staples Center.
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“You either get the job done or you don’t,” Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi said. “I think everybody knows which side which team is on.”
Judging by the disintegration of the Kings’ defense and poise in the last two games, Thursday’s appearance at Staples Center likely was the Kings’ last this season. On Tuesday they failed to hold a 4-0 lead in the second period and lost, 6-5, in overtime. They didn’t squander a lead Thursday and cut a 3-0 Sharks lead to 3-2 late in the second period, but they let the game slip away in the third.
“We’ve allowed 12 goals at home and we pride ourselves on being a real good defensive team,” winger Justin Williams said. “The math certainly doesn’t add up.”
Joe Thornton took a pass from Patrick Marleau and scored from close range at 2:28 of the third period – he blew kisses to someone in the crowd afterward – and Joe Pavelski padded that lead to 5-2 at 3:22 when he tipped home a Dan Boyle shot after winning a faceoff in the Kings’ zone.
Torrey Mitchell inflicted the final indignity at 11:42, poking a loose puck under Jonathan Quick’s arm for the Sharks’ 12th goal since the Kings took that 4-0 lead on Tuesday. Alexei Ponikarovsky scored his first goal of the series at 13:11, but many in the sellout crowd had left the building, unwilling or unable to watch the Kings fall short yet again.
Quick gave up only three goals on 79 shots in the first two games but gave up 12 goals on 63 shots in Games 3 and 4. He alone wasn’t to blame: The Kings as a team showed little poise and had no clutch scoring in the two home games.
Each team had a five-on-three advantage in the first period but couldn’t score. They then combined for five goals in the second period.
San Jose scored while the teams were skating four on four.
A shot by Ryane Clowe deep on the left side went off the skate of Kings defenseman Jack Johnson and sat in the crease, but when Alec Martinez tried to clear it out of danger he instead pushed it into the net at 3:58.
The Sharks increased their lead to 2-0 at 5:12 when defenseman Jason Demers, making a foray deep into the zone, converted a terrific pass from polished rookie Logan Couture.
Kings defenseman Matt Greene got a double-minor for high-sticking Scott Nichol at the six-minute mark and the Kings killed most of it but Clowe made them pay at 9:28, when he converted the rebound of a shot by Couture.
Kings coach Terry Murray called a timeout after that goal, and his team responded.
Brad Richardson, centering the Kings’ most effective line in this series with wingers Kyle Clifford and Wayne Simmonds, tucked the rebound of a Ryan Smyth shot inside the right post at the 11-minute mark. At 16:04, Williams used his speed to dash up the left wing – his off-wing as a right-handed shooter – and throw a pass to Smyth on the right side. Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, trying to tie Smyth up, instead got his stick on the puck and inadvertently deflected it inside the right post and behind Antti Niemi.
But the second-seeded Sharks pulled away after that, their depth, speed and guile proving too much for a Kings team that always seems to fall short in so many painful ways.
“On the other hand, it wasn’t the fourth loss,” Williams said. “The fourth one is always the hardest, and we’re going to San Jose with a great attitude.”
— Story by Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times
