SAN JOSE
– Tomas Plihal capped a decisive second period for the San Jose
Sharks with a short-handed goal, leading the hosts to a 3-1 victory
over the Los Angeles Kings at HP Pavilion.
SAN JOSE – Tomas Plihal capped a decisive second period for the San Jose Sharks with a short-handed goal, leading the hosts to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at HP Pavilion.
The teams complete the home-and-home series Sunday at 6pm at Staple Center.
Plihal snapped a 1-1 tie when he scored his third career goal at the 14:49 mark. Marc-Edouard Vlasic set up Plihal’s dash to success with a 60-foot carom pass along the left boards to the forward at the Kings blueline. Plihal sped to the left-circle dot, slowed in front of defenseman Jack Johnson before snapping a shot into the high left corner of the net past King goalie Jason LaBarbera.
“I was wide open and Vlasic saw me,” said Plihal. “I just tried to go one-on-one and put it on net. The defenseman was coming at me so I made one move and put it on net.”
Former King Rob Blake ignited the Sharks’ first goal at 1:12 of the second period.
Blake hustled to keep the San Jose threat alive behind the Kings’ net by pushing the puck to Joe Thornton. The San Jose center fed Vlasic in the high slot. The defenseman’s hard shot bounded off LaBarbera and to a waiting Devin Setoguchi for the five-footer under the goalie.
San Jose was 17-4 in shots in the second period. The Sharks, ruining the coaching debut behind the Los Angeles bench for Terry Murray, extended the lead to 3-1 when Joe Pavelski scored on a 2-on-1 rush 1:03 into the third period.
“The players did a good job of not getting impatient” falling behind 1-0 after one period, said coach Todd McLellan.
“LA earned their goal, made a good play and (goalie Evgeni Nabokov) couldn’t do anything about it,” said McLellan of the lone Kings score.
San Jose finished the game with a 41-13 margin in shots on net. The Sharks fashioned a 14-5 edge in shots in the first period, yet went to the intermission down 1-0.
The Kings converted their only power play of the first period, needing 1:54 of added-man play to take the 1-0 lead. Shark Dan Boyle was called for interference at 4:40 and by 6:34 Los Angeles netted a goal from Alexander Frolov. Center Michael Handzus controlled the puck in the right circle in the attacking zone before finding an unmarked Frolov at the left circle for the crisp one-timer inside the left post.
“We shot it a lot and got it back a lot,” said McLellan. “That’s hard to defend.”
NOTES : The win gave San Jose a 45-43-7-4 mark over the Kings, the most wins over any NHL club by the franchise…The announced attendance was a sell-out, 17,496…As in the opener, Marcel Goc and Alexei Semenov were the healthy Shark scratches…San Jose’s next home game is Tuesday Oct. 14 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
