San Jose Sharks endure third straight loss as the Los Angeles Kings win at the Tank 4-1
By Conor Power
This losing streak is now at three games as the Los Angeles Kings come into the SAP Center and soundly beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1. Los Angeles becomes the first team in NHL history to win 13 of its first 15 road games, and the Sharks are now back to the bottom of the league on points percentage. Things are going well for the rebuild, but the optimism that some had during the incredible comebacks and the wins seems to have faded.
Anze Kopitar would get the puck deep on a Los Angeles Kings powerplay. Adrian Kempe would swing it around to the far boards for Kevin Fiala, he would throw it back to Drew Doughty at the point. Kopitar would feed it back to Fiala whose shot was blocked and dropped out in front. Arthur Kaliyev would get it back to Kopitar who would beat Kaapo Kahkonen to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead on the powerplay.
A failed Sharks rush up the ice gets stopped at the Los Angeles blueline, leaving Kevin Fiala to pick out the streaking Trevor Moore breaking into the Sharks zone all alone. He makes no mistake firing the puck past Kahkonen, and the Kings had a 2-0 lead five minutes into the second . There's nothing that Kahkonen could have done with that, but the defensive problems the Sharks have had all season showing their head again to leave Moore that wide open.
It would be 3-0 before long. Jordan Spence would clear it up the ice to Kempe, who tapped it to Kopital. Kopitar drove into the Sharks corner and around the net before getting it back to the point for Spence. He would wrist one on from the blueline, and Alex Laferriere would tip the puck past Kahkonen to make it a 3-0 game, and even this Sharks team was going to have trouble roaring back from this one.
They would give it all they had, but Trevor Lewis would hit the empty net, sealing the fate of this game. It was now a question of avoiding the shutout and trying to get a goal on the board in the final minutes and change. It was going to be a third straight defeat, and a return to the basement of the NHL for the players in teal. A struggling season was seemingly compiling into more and more issues for this Sharks roster.
Jacob MacDonald would get on the board with 1:19 left in the game. Mike Hoffman would walk the blueline before dishing it over to Kevin Labanc. Labanc moved it deep to Filip Zadina who would give it back to Labanc. Labanc gave it to MacDonald at the point who ripped one home past the glove of David Rittich on the powerplay to give the Sharks something to take from this game, but another loss complies the pain the Sharks are going through.