SAN JOSE
– A second consecutive win back on home ice has given the San
Jose Sharks 87 points with 26 games left in the regular season.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Milan Michalek scored goals in the
second period as San Jose snapped a 2-2 tie on the way to a 4-2 win
over the Los Angeles Kings at sold-out HP Pavilion.
SAN JOSE – A second consecutive win back on home ice has given the San Jose Sharks 87 points with 26 games left in the regular season.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Milan Michalek scored goals in the second period as San Jose snapped a 2-2 tie on the way to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings at sold-out HP Pavilion.
After a 1-1-3 effort on the most recent road trip, San Jose can sweep this week’s homestand Saturday at 1pm against the Atlanta Thrashers.
The Sharks trail Boston (88 points) in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy. Sam Jose has a three-point edge over Detroit in the battle for the first spot in the Western Conference, as well as a 22-point lead over the Dallas Stars in the Pacific Division.
The Los Angeles Kings, tied for tenth in the Pacific Division entering play, twice erased one-game San Jose leads.
The Sharks needed 34 seconds to open the scoring. Lukas Kaspar, who scored his first NHL goal to give San Jose a 1-0 win over the Kings on Oct. 12, notched his second of the season on the opening shift by turning a pass from Joe Thornton into a crisp 15-footer past goalie Erik Ersberg.
Los Angeles responded with an even-strength goal at the 4:24 mark of the first period. Wayne Simmonds’ hard shot from the right post turned into a 5-foot stuff shot by Michal Handzus to make it 1-1.
San Jose finished the scoring for the first period when Patrick Marleau pounced on a short rebound of a Vlasic slapshot and converted a 10-footer over a prone Ersberg with 1:57 left in the period. Marleau’s 33rd goal of the year came one second after a penalty to King Derek Armstrong elapsed.
Los Angeles had one final tying goal, this one 3:53 into the second period. Alexander Frolov produced his team-high 24th goal of the season off a short feed from Patrick O’Sullivan on the power play.
Vlasic scored at 10:51 of the second period with two seconds left on a power play. Thornton threaded a backhanded pass from the blue ice to an open Vlasic for the 20-foot slapshot from the left circle dot.
Claude Lemieux earned his first NHL point since March 9, 2003 when he had a secondary assist on Michalek’s goal at the 13:11 mark. Joe Pavelski slipped a pass from the right flank through the legs of King defenseman Drew Doughty and onto Michalek’s stick for the 10-foot insurance goal.
Evgeni Nabokov recorded 30 saves to earn his 30th win of the season. San Jose had 40 shots on net, a franchise-best 17th occasion with at least 40 shots this season.
