The San Jose Sharks earned their second straight win last night, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 in the second half of their back-to-back set.
Will Smith came back into acton to center Luke Kunin and Barclay Goodrow, while Nico Sturm centered Carl Grundstrom and Ethan Cardwell, who was making his NHL debut. As a result, Givani Smith and Klim Kostin came out of the lineup. Meanwhile, Jack Thompson came into action on the bottom pairing in place of Henry Thrun, and Vitek Vanecek got the start.
First Period
The Sharks had two early power plays to start the game, but couldn’t capitalize, and didn’t really get much going on either. San Jose did look good for a stretch after the power play opportunities though, as they started to generate some shots.
The Sharks got into some penalty trouble of their own from there, but did a good job not letting the Kings get many clean looks on their power plays. Neither team was really able to execute much in the frame, and the game remained scoreless through 20 minutes.
Second Period
Jake Walman managed to open the scoring for San Jose early in the second period, putting a shot on net from the point that seemed to handcuff David Rittich.
But then only shortly after, Vanecek couldn’t handle Brandt Clarke’s shot, and the rebound popped down behind him for Akil Thomas to tap it in, quickly tying the game.
The Kings really took over momentum from there for a little while, generating about 10 shots over only around five minuites from the time they scored, including hitting a post.
Los Angeles then had a couple more opportunities on the man advantage when San Jose got into some penalty trouble, though Mikael Granlund ended up with a shorthanded breakaway, but just couldn't convert. So despite San Jose being outshot 18-5 in the period, the game remained tied at intermission.
Third Period
After not being able to capitalize on an early power play, the Sharks still managed to take the lead once again about six minutes into the third period, with Fabian Zetterlund coming in on a rush and beating Rittich with a nice shot.
Once again, however, the Kings quickly managed to tie the game shortly after, with Alex Turcotte winning a battle against Alexander Wennberg and putting the puck out front to Alex Laferriere, who beat Vanecek.
The Sharks came right back after that though, and when the Kings couldn’t exit the zone, Jake Walman put the puck to Tyler Toffoli at the front of the net, who went to the backhand to beat Rittich and put San Jose back ahead.
The Sharks really didn’t let the Kings get much going from there, limiting Los Angeles to just two shots in the entire period. Then in the final minute, William Eklund buried an empty netter, giving San Jose the 4-2 win.
Takeaways
The win in Utah served as a game that the Sharks could use to build some momentum going forward, and they did just that. San Jose had another solid outing, and despite taking their foot off the gas in the second period a bit after Los Angeles initially tied the game, they had a great third period to earn the win.
San Jose didn’t generate a huge amount of offense with just 21 shots, but it was the usual suspects doing a lot of the heavy lifting, with Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund both scoring, and William Eklund burying the empty netter. Jake Walman also continued his impressive start in San Jose, picking up his first goal with the team (though he now has eight points overall in 11 games), along with setting up Toffoli for the game-winner and posting a plus-four rating. To illustrate Walman’s impact, only one other player on the team (Cody Ceci) even had a plus-two rating last night.
The Sharks’ penalty kill was also a huge factor, killing off all six of the Kings’ power plays. Even if San Jose didn’t get much going on their own opportunities with the man advantage, they did a really good job limiting the Kings’ chances.
Vitek Vanecek also played well for his first win as a Shark, while Ethan Cardwell looked good in a depth role. It’s worth noting though that Cardwell was given a decent opportunity in his first game, getting more than double the ice time of what we saw for Klim Kostin and Givani Smith on the fourth line against Utah.
It’s a big win for the Sharks, as they sweep the back-to-back set with two solid performances. They’ll be back in action tomorrow with an opportunity for a third win in a row, when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.
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