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Martin Likes the
Kings
Sharks netminder rebounds to lead SJ on MLK
Day
MLK Day stands for the day we honor one of the most
influential figures in American history. On Monday, MLK stood for Martin Likes
the Kings. San Jose Sharks goaltender Martin Jones faced his former team and
made 35 saves to bounce back from a horrendous start last Saturday to beat the
Los Angeles Kings 4-1 at Staples Center. Unlike Saturday's goal fest, the
Sharks played a methodical defensive game, suppressing the Kings and leaning on
four different goal scorers to beat their rivals from Southern California.
Jones has had rough outings since the middle of December and needed a
quality performance as the Sharks try to make up ground in the Western
Conference and Pacific Division standings. The goaltender kept his former team
at bay all day in the matinee game that allows San Jose to pull within a point
of the Kings.
San Jose drew first blood with a Chris Tierney goal 4:38
into the contest off a pretty feed from Joonas Donskoi. Dylan Demelo started
the sequence with a feed to Donsoi in the high slot. Saturday night's savior,
Donskoi saw Tierney cutting on the left wing. He pivoted to face the net and
rather than shoot, he made the pass to his linemate for the easy tap in past
Kings backup goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
Former Shark forward Torrey
Mitchell was whistled for slashing late in the period, but the league's top
penalty kill kept the Sharks power play at bay. San Jose generated 2 shots on
goal on the man advantage, but never really threatened Kuemper.
Barclay Goodrow made it a 2-0 Sharks lead 8:52 into the 2nd period. Demelo
carried the puck up the right wing and put a shot on Kueumper from the side
boards. Kuemper failed to control the shot as it popped out to the front of the
net where Goodrow cleaned up with a return shot that found twine.
Mikkel Boedker pushed the sharks lead to 3-0 9:11 into the 3rd period on one of
the easier tallies of his career. Tierney carried the puck up the right side
and out-waited a Kings defender before cutting back to the slot and then
slipping a pass to Donskoi in the middle. Donskoi got a skate blade on the
puck, floating toward the net. Boedker was parked on the left post where he
helped it over the goal line for his 4th goal of the season.
Joe Pavelski took the sharks first penalty of the day
midway through the 3rd period, setting up the Kings first chance on special
teams with the man advantage. The Sharks killed the penalty, but Trevor Lewis
fond the back of the net as San Jose tried to get their 5th skater into the
play. Marion Gaborik carried the puck past the left post and made a feed to
Lewis in the low slot for the quick put back goal.
Brent Burns and
Adrian Kemp took offsetting slashing penalties with 3:23 to play and the Kings
used that as an opportunity to pull Kuemper to setup a 5-on-4 scenario. Los
Angeles couldn't muster any scoring, largely because of Jones performance. The
netminder stood tall as the Kings held the sharks zone for a majority of the 2
minutes span.
Joe Thornton put the nail in the Kings coffin with an
empty-net goal with 20 seconds left in regulation to give the Sharks the season
series. San Jose took 3of 4 games from Los Angeles this season. In a scheduling
oddity, the two teams won't face each other again this season unless a playoff
match up arises.
Game Notes:
* The Sharks announced a
roster move on Monday after they placed veteran defenseman Paul Martin on
waivers. Martin had been a healthy scratch in his last 7 games after referring
from an injury that sidelined him for all but three games this season. It was
reported by multiple news sources that Martin had asked for a trade, but there
were no takers.
* As is typical for a Kings - Sharks game, Los Angeles
focused on pounding the body. Los Angeles recorded 34 hits to San Jose's 17.
* Defensemen Brendan Dillon and Dylan Demelo were both a +3 in the
game. Demelo returned from the injured reserve after a 7 game absence and
recorded two assists in the game.
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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 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
| LA |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Tierney 11 (Donsoi, Demelo), 4:38. |
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| 2nd period - 2, SJ,
Goodrow 3 (Demelo, Dillon), 8:52. |
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| 3rd period - 3, SJ,
Boedker 4 (Donskoi, Tierney), 9:11. 4, LA, Lewis 11 (Gaborik, Kempe), 12:42. 5,
SJ, Thornton 10 (Braun, Vlasic), 19:40, (en). |
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| 1st period - Mitchell,
LA (slashing), 17:59. |
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| 3rd period - Pavelski,
SJ (tripping), 10:32; Burns, SJ (slashing), 16:37; Kemp, LA (slashing), 16:37.
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
36 |
35 |
| LA - Kuemper |
32 |
29 |
| LA - empty net |
1 |
0 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
13 |
15 |
5 |
33 |
| LA |
6 |
13 |
17 |
36 |
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| Referees: Rooney,
Skilliter. Linesmen: Cameron, Daisy. |
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