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What the Frk
Kings farmhand helps LA knock off Sharks
The Christmas break ended and the nightmare season
continued for the Sharks on Friday night. Holding a 2-goal lead in the 3rd
period, San Jose coughed up a pair of goals to the Los Angeles Kings in
regulation, then allowed Jeff Carter to poke home a puck to take the two points
in overtime. The Sharks played 40 minutes of hockey and now find themselves in
the basement of the Western Conference all by themselves.
The Kings
and Sharks hold the two worst records in the West and the game's outcome would
decide who would hold the distinction of worst in the West. San Jose's
tentative approach in the 3rd period clearly distinguished them as the team
least likely to win this one. The 3-on-3 overtime format should have favored
the Sharks, and an early chance should have ended things in the positive for
San Jose, but when the Kings worked the puck to the front of the Sharks net,
goaltender Aaron Dell tried poke-checking it away from Aaron Iafallo. Dell
missed, and Iafallo was able to move the puck to his left, where Carter was
parked. The Kings forward gathered the puck with his left skate, then easily
tapped it home to send the Sharks to their 10th loss in their last 11 games.
Neither team did much in the opening 20 minutes, with the Kings
out-shooting San Jose 10-8 in the period. Both teams enjoyed a power play
opportunity. 3 of the Sharks 8 shots came on their man advantage after Nikolai
Prokhorkin was sent off for tripping late in the period.
Erik Karlsson
finally got someone on the score sheet, when his long blast from the right
point beat Kings goaltender Jack Campbell. Patrick Marleau earned the primary
assist, and screened Campbell while fighting off defenseman and former Sharks
Joakim Ryan at the top of the crease.
San Jose extended their lead to
two goals when Joe Thornton scored his 1st goal of the season at 11:39 of the
period. Thornton was lurking near the goal mouth when Radim Simek put the puck
on his tape from the bottom of the right circle. Thornton put the puck through
Campbell's 5-hole for a rare Sharks multi-goal lead.
Thornton had gone
47 games without a tally.
Martin Frk scored his 1st goal as a King
1:30 into the 3rd period to halve the Sharks lead. The journeyman played the
last two seasons for the Detroit Red Wings, but was making his Kings debut
after playing in 26 games for the Manchster Reign of the AHL.
The Kings were forced to pull Campbell with just under
2 minutes to play, and that paid dividends when Frk converted his 2nd goal of
the period to tie the game. Jeff Carter saucered a pass to the front of the net
where Frk was left unattended. The Kings forward easily redirected Carter's
feed past Dell to knot the game at 2-2.
Brent Burns had a chance to
end it in overtime when he found himself facing Campbell with the puck out in
front of the net, but his shot attempt clanked off the crossbar to extend
things. That didn't bode well.
Game Notes:
* With his
assist on Erik Karlsson's goal. Joe Thornton recorded his 1,078th career
assist, leaving him one shy of Adam Oates for seventh on the all-time assist
list. Patrick Marleau sits one point shy of Sergei Federov for 51st on the
all-time points list with 1,178.
* Tomas Hertl, Kevin Labanc and Brent
Burns were all a -2 on the night. Hertl continues to struggle this season,
Labanc has been non-existent for most of the year, and Burns continues to kill
his team defensively. Former Sharks Joakim Ryan was also a -2, which was the
worst plus/minus for the Kings.
* The Sharks -26 third period goal
differential is the worst in the NHL.
* The 2-goal game was a career
first for Martin Frk.
* The Kings rested startign goaltender Jonathan
Quick against the Sharks. The pattern is becoming common place for San Jose,
who face little threat to opposing teams right now.
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What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| LA |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
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| 2nd period - 1. SJ, E.
Karlsson 4 (Marleau, Thornton), 6:16. 2, SJ, Thornton 1 (Simek, Marleau),
11:39. |
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| 3rd period - 3, LA, Frk
1 (Carter, Prokhorkin), 1:30. 4, LA, Frk 2 (Carter, Prokhorkin), 18:36. |
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| Overtime - 5, LA, Carter
12 (iafallo), 1:31. |
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| 1st period - Noesen, SJ
(interference), 5:46; Prokhorkin, LA (tripping), 16:40. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| LA - Campbell |
24 |
22 |
| SJ - Dell |
38 |
35 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| LA |
10 |
11 |
15 |
2 |
38 |
| SJ |
8 |
11 |
4 |
1 |
24 |
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| Referees: Skiliter,
Rehman. Linesmen: Toomey, Gibbons. |
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