In Los Angeles, Martin Jones made 30 saves and the San Jose Sharks defeated the Kings, 3-0 on Friday night.
“Winning is fun,” Jones said. “We’re playing a lot better as a team. I think guys are feeling more comfortable with our systems and settling into some roles, so it’s been great. It’s been a lot better, how we’ve been playing, and it makes my job a lot easier too.”
Tomas Hertl opened the scoring in the first period on a tip-in goal.
Timo Meier extended the lead to 2-0 at the nine-minute mark of the middle frame.
“I think he’s taken it upon himself,” Sharks head coach Bob Boughner said. “I know he’s not had the best year statistically, but this is the most important time of the year right now and this is when you see your best players step up. You could tell the last couple of games he looks like he’s more intent on the details of his game.”
The Kings dropped to 14-15-6.
“We’re creating a lot of chances,” Los Angeles’ Jaret Anderson-Dolan said. “They’re just not going in right now, so a couple of those go in and this could be a different conversation, different result. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to put those in the net and find a way to start winning hockey games again here.”
Rudolfs Balcers added an empty-net goal for the 3-0 final.
Calvin Petersen made 33 saves in the loss.
“When you play teams eight, potentially 12 times in one season in five months, you’re going to get a pretty good idea of what they’re doing,” Kings head coach Tod McLellan said. “It’s going to get tougher to score power-play goals down the stretch simply because of that.”
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