Could San Jose finish off LA and be the 2nd team of the day to go into the Conference Semi Finals? They were in front of their home crowd to try and do so.
It was the away team that took the game by storm though, scoring 3 goals on their first 4 shots, chasing Neimi out of the Sharks net.
It was Simmonds at 3.36 who put the Kings into the lead. Neimi shot the puck against the boards but failed to clear the zone and the puck was fed over to Scuderi. He fired the puck on net, it being tipped first by Clifford and then by Simmonds before it settled in behind the netminder.
If some thought that Clifford had scored the 1st goal there was no doubting that he scored the 2nd. It was a 2 on 1 break with Simmonds taking the puck towards the net and shooting across Neimi. He got a good low leg pad / glove on it but couldn't hold the puck and Clifford swept the rebound in. It was only 7.14 into the game.
Around a minute and a half later it was 3-0 as Penner fired in a wrist shot from inbetween the circles that beat Neimi low glove side. The 3rd goal on 4 shots and Nittymaki was up from the bench and sent onto the ice.
Somehow the Kings had built themselves a 3-0 1st period lead even though they were being outshot 19-6 at the end of the 1st period. Quick had been superb in stopping everything the Sharks were throwing at him.
The Kings didn't need reminding that they had been in a similar position already in this series and they must have been fearing the worst when Marleau got the Sharks on the board 5.43 into the 2nd.
It was a bad defensive play Doughty that lead to the goal, Thornton picking his pocket and taking the puck around the net and leaving the puck in the circle for Wallin to skate onto. He wristed the puck on goal and found Marleau on top of the crease and he jammed the puck in past the skate of Quick.
A minute or so earlier Couture should have scored, hitting the near side post on a big slapshot from the bottom of the circle when it seemed easier to put the puck in. Handzus had his shot for LA also bounce off the post later in the period.
The Kings didn't collapse on this occasion though, despite again being outshot in the 2nd 15-12. The Sharks had already had 34 shots on net at this point but only had Marleau's marker to show for it.
The Sharks continued into the 3rd to try and find away of reducing the game to 1 goal, taking another 18 shots on Quick but never finding a way through. The Kings penalty kill unit standing strong on 2 occasions.
LA had managed to pull off a steal, winning the game 3-1 after being heavily outshot 52-22 overall. Jonathon Quick had been remarkable in between the pipes and the Kings had managed to hold onto their lead on away ice similar to how they had done back in game 2. The series now heads back to Los Angeles for game 6 with the Kings hoping they can put in a better performance than their previous 2 home games.
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