LOS ANGELES -- The No. 3-seeded San Jose Sharks drew first blood with a 4-3 win at Staples Center over the No. 2-seeded Los Angeles Kings in a Pacific Division rivalry that lived up to billing right off the hop Thursday night.
How it happened: Joe Pavelski's wraparound goal just 17 seconds into the third period stood up as the winner, the Sharks captain capping a strong night with quite a play, first winning the faceoff clean from Anze Kopitar and then, after getting the puck back down low from Justin Braun, fighting off Kopitar as he swung behind the net and came out in front to beat Jonathan Quick inside the far post. Just a super, strong play and the second goal of the night for Pavelski.
It was a whale of road game by the Sharks, who limited the Kings’ offensive chances. And when L.A. did threaten, former Kings backup goalie and now Sharks starter Martin Jones was solid, including his pad save on Andy Andreoff midway through the third period that preserved the lead. Jones showed no jitters in his first career NHL playoff start.
In a wild second period, Brent Burns put the Sharks up 2-1, only to have Jeff Carter tie it 40 seconds later. Same deal later in the period when Trevor Lewis’ sensational toe-drag shorthanded goal at 17 minutes, 18 seconds put the Kings up 3-2, only to see Tomas Hertl tie it up just 30 seconds later.
Although the game was tied through 40 minutes, the Sharks were outshooting the hosts 20-14 and were the better team on merit of play. The Kings were lucky just to be tied after two periods.
L.A. kept its best offensive push for late with a last-minute, frantic attempt to tie the game with Quick pulled for the extra attacker, but it was to no avail.
Player of the game: Pavelski was strong on the puck throughout, tying the game 1-1 with a one-time blast on the power play in the first period. But it’s his game-winning goal early in the third period that truly underlined his evening, beating Kings star Kopitar twice on the same play: on the faceoff and then on the wraparound. You don’t see Kopitar beat like that very often.
Stat of the game: The Sharks scored a power-play goal and the NHL’s third-ranked unit in the regular season could have had four or five of them, that’s how dazzling it looked. The San Jose power play was just that threatening all night, with great zone entries, swift puck movement and clean looks/Grade A scoring chances. Yes, they gave up that beauty of a shorthanded goal to Lewis, but the lesson here -- as if the Kings didn’t already know -- is that they must stay out of the box in this series because that Sharks power play is going to kill them. In fact, it’s exactly what Drew Doughty was saying before Game 1, but easier said than done avoiding penalties when the Sharks’ strong play in Game 1 forced the Kings to take them.
What it means: You knew how motivated the Sharks would be entering this series after fumbling away a 3-0 series lead two years ago to the Kings in a first-round loss that was soul-crushing. There's lots of hockey still to be played, but the Game 1 win proved that the Sharks' regular-season series record versus the Kings (3-1-1) was no fluke. These California rivals are evenly matched and this smells like a seven-game series all the way.
But for that to happen, the Kings need a much better effort. They were sloppy defensively in their own zone in Game 1 and seemed a step behind on loose pucks to the Sharks. Not the trademark game we’re used to seeing the Kings play, although credit a strong San Jose forecheck for creating havoc all night long.
Next game: Saturday, 7:30 pm PT/10:30 p.m. ET at Staples Center.