Dylan Gambrell scored a late short-handed goal and Martin Jones made 32 saves as the San Jose Sharks held on to defeat the visiting Los Angeles Kings 5-2 on Friday.
The Kings were threatening to tie the game late in the third period, trailing 3-2 and going on a power play with 4:05 left. However, Sharks defenseman Brent Burns sent the puck up the ice for Evander Kane, who set Gambrell up for the pivotal short-handed goal.
Tomas Hertl added an empty-net tally with 1:19 to go, sealing the victory.
Kevin Labanc, Patrick Marleau and Rudolfs Balcers also scored goals for San Jose. Burns tallied three assists, and Kane had two helpers.
Alex Iafallo and Jaret Anderson-Dolan were the goal-scorers for Los Angeles. Calvin Petersen made 24 saves in the loss.
The Sharks won for the fifth time in six games while the Kings took their fourth loss in five games.
Iafallo put the Kings on the board first at the 2:27 mark of the opening period. He was left alone in front of San Jose's net and easily got the puck past Jones.
The Sharks evened up the score at 8:01 of the first when Burns set Labanc up for a wrist shot that cleanly beat Petersen.
Burns assisted on the Sharks' next goal, too, with a cross-ice pass that Marleau tapped in up close to give San Jose a 2-1 lead at 13:50 of the opening period.
Balcers found the back of the net by knocking in the rebound of a Timo Meier shot to make it 3-1 at 17:17 of the first.
Neither team scored in the second period, although a couple of fights kept things interesting. The Kings did create some momentum after killing off a Drew Doughty penalty halfway through the period, but Jones halted their flurry of shots.
Anderson-Dolan tightened the score just 1:02 into the final frame with a cross-ice shot that snuck behind Jones to make it 3-2.
--Field Level Media
Los Angeles | San Jose | |
Jaret Anderson-Dolan 1 | Points | Brent Burns 3 |
Jaret Anderson-Dolan 1 | Goals | Rudolfs Balcers 1 |
Dustin Brown 1 | Assists | Brent Burns 3 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | Dylan Gambrell 1 |
Calvin Petersen .857 | Save Percentage | Martin Jones .941 |
Calvin Petersen 24 | Saves | Martin Jones 32 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Los Angeles | 34 | 2 | 0-3 | 3-3 | 23 | 34 |
San Jose | 29 | 5 | 0-3 | 3-3 | 23 | 25 |