SANTA CLARA – A 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night at Levi’s Stadium in the 2015 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series in front of a crowd of 70,205 has to leave the San Jose Sharks even more convinced about the remaining one-quarter of the season.
San Jose needs to put together enough consistent performances while one or more of the remaining teams around the eighth spot in the Western Conference slip in the final seven weeks of play.
The Kings, owners of two of the past three Stanley Cups, pulled into a three-way tie with San Jose and Calgary for seventh in the conference, each with 68 points. To add to the intrigue, Minnesota sits in 10th place with 67 points. Unless some of the clubs ahead of them (like Winnipeg at 71 and Vancouver at 69) falter, the final day of the regular season will have two of the four teams around the seventh spot failing to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Sharks have four days to regroup before hosting the Detroit Red Wings of the Eastern Conference Thursday night indoors at SAP Center. San Jose will play 10 games against Eastern Conference foes in the final 21 games, including twice each against Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa and Pittsburgh.
“We were disappointed in the outcome,” said San Jose coach Todd McLellan. “I’m not disappointed in the effort and what our guys put into the game.”
San Jose managed a 32-29 edge in shots on net, beating Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick once when Brent Burns buried a shot from the right flank after taking an offensive zone face-off win from Tommy Wingels 18:56 into the first period to make it 1-1.
Los Angeles, winning for the seventh straight game, countered with goals from Kyle Clifford and Marian Gaborik.
Clifford gave the Kings a 1-0 lead 2:46 into the first period. Jake Muzzin keyed the scoring play with a crisp shot from the outside edge of the left circle that Clifford, skating across the crease, redirected past goaltender Antti Niemi. The result was Clifford’s 25th career goal off Muzzin’s 50th career assist.
San Jose had the bulk of the territorial advantage in the second period, including a 15-6 margin in shots on net. The Kings kept the Sharks at bay, including killing off two penalties.
Gaborik, the 33-year-old right winger acquired by Columbus by trade 11 months ago, gave the Kings the deciding goal in the third period. Gaborik entered the Sharks zone before sending a shot from the left circle into the far right corner of the net. Jeff Carter, third on the Kings in assists, earned his 28th helper on Gaborik’s goal.
Saturday’s encounter was the first time in 14 games that San Jose lost while giving up two or fewer goals.
