The LA Kings (10-6-5) battled back to earn a point with a tying goal late in the third, but the San Jose Sharks (10-8-3) ultimately prevailed by a final score of 4-3, earning the extra point from a shootout result Thursday night at the SAP Center.
Adrian Kempe scored the tying goal for the Kings with a minute to go in regulation, sending the game to overtime with his seventh goal of the season, while Joel Armia and Anze Kopitar also found the back of the net and goaltender Anton Forsberg made 21 saves in a losing effort.
The Sharks opened the scoring just 2:33 into the first period when Adam Gaudette wristed a shot from the inside of the right circle past Forsberg to give the home team a 1-0 lead early on.
LA worked their way back into the game and eventually tied the score at 1-1 while killing a holding penalty to Kempe when Armia stole the puck from Macklin Celebrini at his own blue line and sprinted down the ice on a breakaway before using a quick shot to beat Yaroslav Askarov at 16:04.
But San Jose ended up with the lead at the first intermission after a goal by Ty Dellandrea with just nine seconds left on the clock, giving themselves a 2-1 advantage. An initial shot by Collin Graf deflected off Dellandrea and into the net with traffic in front.
The Kings tied the game back up at 2-2, 1:47 into the second when Kopitar took a pass from Trevor Moore in stride at the offensive blue line before slipping the puck through the legs of Askarov at 1:47.
The Kings dictated the pace of play for a majority of the second and appeared to go in front for the first time with eight minutes to play in the period when Armia knocked a loose rebound out of the air and into the net, but San Jose challenged that the play was offside and after review, the call on the ice was reversed.
San Jose took the lead back and made it 3-2 with three minutes remaining in the middle frame when Philipp Kurashev found open space in the slot and he out-waited Forsberg before slipping the puck underneath him.
The teams battled throughout the third without a goal for the first 19 minutes until Kempe netted the equalizer at 19:01 from Kopitar and Kevin Fiala, burying a loose rebound near the net.
In overtime, San Jose held possession early but weren’t able to put any shots on goal until the final 90 seconds of the extra session when they had two attempts that were stopped by Forsberg.
Kurashev was the lone shooter to convert in the shootout, scoring on the first opportunity of the skill competition. Askarov stopped all three Kings skaters, with Moore, Kempe and Corey Perry all coming up short.
Postgame thoughts from Armia and Kempe, as well as head coach Jim Hiller are available HERE.
