For the second consecutive game, the San Jose Sharks found themselves in quite the hockey tilt. A day after pulling out a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild, the Sharks hosted the division-leading Los Angeles Kings and appeared destined to narrow the gap within the division to six points as San Jose held a 2-1 lead with less than a minute remaining.
Unfortunately for the Sharks, they were burned by a late goal this time as Vincent Lecavalier tied the game with 12.2 seconds left in regulation before Marian Gaborik was able to find some room in overtime to fire past Martin Jones to give the Kings a 3-2 overtime victory.
From the start of the game, it didn’t appear that San Jose would be in this one for very long as Los Angeles dominated the play in the first period. At one point, the Kings were outshooting the Sharks by a 7-1 margin as San Jose spent way too much time chasing the guys in the white sweaters. Fortunately for the Sharks, Jones was on his game from the get-go and they were able to escape the first without surrendering a goal.
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In the second, San Jose found their legs and started to push back against Los Angeles. The Sharks would strike first off some great work behind the net by Joe Thornton. Fresh out of the penalty box, Thornton was able to win a battle behind the net and fed Tomas Hertl who one-touched a pass to a wide open Joe Pavelski who was able to bury his 24th goal of the season, giving San Jose the 1-0 advantage.
Jumbo ➡️ Hertl ➡️ Pavs = 🚨 pic.twitter.com/dzj8lsBfVw
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 25, 2016
It was a great effort by Thornton to keep the play alive, and the assist extended his point streak to nine games as he continues to make things happen.
Heading into the third with a one-goal cushion, the Sharks continued to press and attack the Kings, but a dumb penalty by Mike Brown would give Los Angeles the break they needed. After taking an unnecessary roughing penalty against Drew Doughty in the neutral zone, the Kings power play would go to work and it was none other than Doughty who would make the Sharks pay, slapping one past a screened Jones for his ninth of the season.
To San Jose’s credit, they didn’t allow the goal to deter their focus as they kept coming at Los Angeles and carried the play from that moment onward. Their determination was rewarded as Joonas Donskoi did a great job of protecting the puck behind the net and found Logan Couture who one-timed it past Jhonas Enroth as the Sharks regained their one-goal lead.
Peter DeBoer’s decision to put Donskoi and Couture together has been paying dividends as Donskoi is playing his best hockey of the season, extending his point streak to five games with that assist.
San Jose looked like they had the game won, but Brent Burns allowed Lecavalier to establish position in front and poke home the game-tying goal just before the final buzzer. That’s a goal the Sharks would like back and can’t allow at that stage in the game.
This was another great effort and hockey game from the boys in teal and proved that this team can hang with the class of the division in the Kings. While the first period was brutal, the Sharks were able to regroup and find their game, utilizing stretch passes to open up the Los Angeles defense.
Next: Sharks Hitting Their Stride At Right Time
While San Jose missed a big opportunity to pull within six points, this contest is still something to build upon for the Sharks as their point streak was extended to nine games. They’ve got one more game before the All-Star break and want to make sure they continue their recent run of play when the Colorado Avalanche come to town.