Joe Pavelski scored his third goal in two games, Martin Jones made 26 saves and the San Jose Sharks held off the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round at Staples Center on Saturday. San Jose has a 2-0 series lead going into Game 3 at SAP Center on Monday. The Sharks led the NHL during the regular season with 28 road wins; however, they were 18-20-3 at home. As they did in Game 1, the Sharks were able to match the Kings' physicality.
Pavelski, who had two goals in San Jose's 4-3 victory in Game 1, scored 3:37 into the first period on the Sharks' first shot of the game. On a broken play, he was alone in the right circle, found a rolling puck and took a high wrist shot that caught the short side on goaltender Jonathan Quick to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead. Pavelski's goal set the tone for the rest of the night.
San Jose continued to pressure Los Angeles throughout the first period and nearly scored again after Dwight King took a roughing penalty at 17:45. The Sharks had several quality chances during the power play but Quick made three saves and defenseman Luke Schenn got his leg in front of another shot to prevent a goal. But the Sharks, who had the NHL's third-best power play during the regular season, capitalized after Tyler Toffoli was called for roughing and Milan Lucic for charging at 8:14, giving the Sharks a 5-on-3 advantage for two minutes. They needed exactly 30 seconds to make it 2-0. Quick slid far out of his net to stop Pavelski's sharp-angled shot from the left circle, but Logan Couture banged the rebound into a wide-open net.
Jones was pressured for much of the third period before the Kings scored a power-play goal with 5:01 remaining. Vincent Lecavalier got free just above the left corner of the crease and snapped a loose puck into the net after a scramble. The goal ended a scoreless stretch of 77:41 for the Kings since Trevor Lewis scored late in the second period of Game 1. However, the Kings managed only one more shot on goal.
The Sharks have given up one 5-on-5 goal in two games, and the Kings say a lack of net-front presence is to blame. The frustration has seeped into the dressing room; the leadership core said the team needs to be mentally tougher.
Quick finished with 21 saves.
The Kings activated forward Marian Gaborik on Saturday; he played 14:32 and finished with four shots on goal in his first game since injuring his right knee on Feb. 12. Defenseman Jamie McBain played in place of injured Alec Martinez, and Nick Shore replaced Andy Andreoff, who played in Game 1.
Sharks Bites
Peter DeBoer: "It was a hard-fought game, a man's game out there. A lot of physical contact, a lot of battles, two teams fully invested and I thought our guys really did a good job of showing up and playing that type of game.""Big goal by our captain. Always a key to play with a lead, especially against L.A. With how well they defend and how big and heavy they are, you want to play out in front of them. It was critical to get that first one. We knew they were going to push and for us to get the first goal really got us in the game."
Joe Pavelski: "That was one of the better starts we've had against this team. When you score first it's always good. It's good to see guys really push for another one. A lot of the lines were creating chances and we drew a lot of penalties along the way. It was good and we let our momentum carry us through."
Kings Quotes
Milan Lucic: "We've got to do a better job of getting traffic and getting guys to the net, fighting through box-outs and getting those second- and third-chance opportunities. Right now, we're not doing a good enough job of it. We need to figure it out quick if we want to turn things around. We've got to stop playing with frustration and start playing with determination."Anze Kopitar: "They're doing their part and we're not doing our part. When we get on the plane [to San Jose on Sunday afternoon], we've got to get it in our heads that we have got to play better. We will play better."
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