In San Jose, after a dreadful showing in their game against the New Jersey Devils, the Sharks took it out on the visiting Los Angeles Kings ahead of the All Star break and won 4-2; a result that pleased their bench boss.
“The win, the score, everything we’re happy with, but what’s most satisfying is the 
competitiveness that we showed up with,” San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “We shouldn’t need to talk about it, but now that it was there throughout 20 players, it should go recognized. We have to capture that and be prepared to bring it to the rink after the break every night because it’s shaping up to be a very tight conference.”
The Sharks got two goals from Logan Couture while Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski scored on the power play to lead the offense.
“Being the Kings, the building has a different feel to it,” Couture said. “The fans, it has different excitement and then the start of the game, when Metallica was doing the starting announcement, that was wicked. That was one of the best experiences I’ve had during hockey. It was so cool.”
Antti Niemi made 26 saves for the win.
“We needed this game,” Pavelski said. “The rivalry, it’s there. We know it’s going to be a competitive game when we play them and it needs to be that way. But it needs to be that way every night. Guys shored up and did that. We’ve got to bottle it every night, we’ve got to compete.”
The Kings remain one point back of the Calgary Flames for the second wild card spot in the west (Calgary lost to Anaheim Wednesday).
“We’re disappointed where we are in the standings right now,” Kings center Anze Kopitar said. “We have to take the next few days to figure that out. It’s time to play desperate coming out of the break.”
The Kings may be able to recharge after the four-day break but when the games resume the club needs to get its offense in gear. Little has gone right this season and they look up at the post season positions rather than down as has been their custom of late.
“We can’t afford to give up two power-play goals and expect to win, especially on the road,” Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr said. “We can all just do a better job, whether it’s guys who have to be physical throwing more forechecks or skill players who need to hang onto the puck, rush the net and score big goals. The penalty kill has to kill a big penalty or two. It’s about all those things.”
Perhaps recognizing the wounded rival, the Sharks never let up and pushed for 60 minutes.
“Foot on the gas pedal,” McLellan said. “They’re a big, hard team and you have to play big and hard against them to have any chance of success. You can’t play safe. You have to get your nose involved, but you have to play smart. That was the message for the whole night.”
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