In Los Angeles, the visiting San Jose Sharks had a 3-0 lead, courtesy of two goals from Timo Meier and a single marker from Erik Karlsson, over the Kings.
As has happened across the NHL this season, the Sharks sat back and admired all they had wrought and patted each on the back and said, man we are great.
Meanwhile, back in reality. the Kings had not quite given up. LA potted two third period goals to get even and force extra time.
“It wasn’t our best [third] period,” Meier said. “I think we could have managed the score better. I thought we played real well the first 40 minutes. Yeah, we gave ’em too much in the third, but credit to the guys, we found a way to get another two points. I think we could have done it over 60 minutes, but we found a way.”
For the 99tyh time in his career, Patrick Marleau scored a game-winning goal (regular season) midway through the extra session to make things right for the Sharks.
Martin Jones made 33 saves in the win.
“We’ve found our stride. We just want to keep it going. We want to get back in a spot in our division where we can catch the top guys,” the Sharks’ Logan Couture said.
Adrian Kempe, Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar scored to rally the Kings.
“Boy, if that’s the player that exists, and he’s (Kempe) there all the time, that’s a pretty darn good NHL player,” McLellan said. “Now we’re going to encourage him to bring that night after night. I know not everybody has their best all the time, but that was a [heck] of a night for him, and starting to see some real good things from him.”
[WATCH: All Sharks vs. Kings highlights]
Jonathan Quick made 21 saves in the loss.
Alec Martinez was cut on the arm by a skate and taken to a local hospital.
“He took a skate into that arm area and got stepped on, and he’s going to be evaluated here later on tonight,” McLellan said. “We’ll have more for you tomorrow. It’s obviously not a good situation, but that’s all I can really give you right now. If I had any more, I’d share it with you.”
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