San Jose
– The San Jose Sharks locked up a spot in the Stanley Cup
Playoffs on Tuesday night by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 at
sold-out HP Pavilion.
San Jose – The San Jose Sharks locked up a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Tuesday night by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 at sold-out HP Pavilion.
Bill Guerin notched his eighth goal since being traded to the Sharks 4:51 into the third period to snap a 1-1 tie. Christian Ehrhoff and Patrick Marleau earned assists.
Marleau made it 3-1 at 9:59 when he raced behind the defense to accept a pass from Milan Michalek and slip in a backhander past an off-balance goalie Sean Burke.
Ehrhoff, with a secondary assist on Marleau’s goal, finished the game with three assists, his first-ever three-point game.
San Jose converted its only power play opportunity of the first period into a 1-0 lead.
Kings winger Brian Willsie was whistled for cross-checking 8:02 into play. The Sharks needed only 32 seconds to open the scoring. Marleau whipped a one-timer past Burke from the top of the right circle for the goal. Ehrhoff set up the play by rifling a shot from the high slot that bounded off Burke’s pads to an open Marleau for the quick blast.
Los Angeles created a 1-1 tie on the Kings’ 15th shot on net 12:27 into the second period during a power play.
Guerin earned two minutes in the box for interference at 11:09. The Kings solved goalie Evgeni Nabokov when Willsie followed linemate Patrick O’Sullivan into the Sharks zone and stroked home a 20-footer from the inside edge of the right circle into the net.
NOTES: The Sharks organization honored Coach Ron Wilson in a pre-game ceremony to acknowledge coaching his 1,000th NHL game on March 18 at Colorado…Wilson rested defenseman Scott Hannan against the Kings, only the third game missed this season for the alternate captain…The Sharks have 23 consecutive sell-outs.
