The Kings fell 4-2 to the Sharks on Tuesday night. In what is the first half of a back-to-back, the Kings will now travel back to LA and face the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights having failed to pick up any points against what were the 1-7-2 Sharks.
It was not the start the Kings had hoped for as they took a penalty in the first minute of the game and then three minutes into game. Fortunately, they killed both Shark power plays off and earned two power plays of their own midway into the opening 20 minutes. Now getting the opportunity to spend time on the other end of the ice, the Kings unfortunately also failed to take advantage of their man advantages and the game went into the first intermission scoreless.
A pair of goals came in the second period, one for each team and did so within a minute of each other. Early in the period, the Sharks cleanly won an offensive zone face-off back to defenseman Jake Walman. Upon receiving the puck, Walman walked the blue line, opened up and ripped a slap shot that beat David Rittich glove side. Now trailing 1-0, the Kings quickly responded 58 seconds later. Slotting into the lineup for the first time this season was Akil Thomas and he made the best of it. Thomas drove the net as Brandt Clarke rifled a shot on goal and banged in a rebound, scoring his fourth career goal in his eighth career NHL game. After tying the game, the Kings berated the Sharks with 42 shot attempts in the period but could not find the back of the net again.
Enter period three and the Sharks again took a one-goal lead. Coming 6:25 into the final 20, the Kings got caught out in attack mode and surrendered a 2-on-1. There, Fabian Zetterlund beat Rittich with a shot and put the Sharks back up. The Kings responded quickly again, striking back to even the game at 2-2 2:27 later. Warren Foegele turned a Sharks defenseman over below the goal line and fed Alex Laferriere in front of the net, where he one-timed a snap shot past Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek. Laferriere’s goal gave him a team-leading fifth goal of the season. Knotted up at 2-2 just past the halfway point of the period, the Kings failed to clear the puck on a breakout and the Sharks capitalized. Walman, who recorded his second consecutive three-point game kept the puck in the Kings zone, fed Tyler Toffoli in front of the Kings net and the former King out-waited Rittich, sliding the puck into the Kings net for a 3-2 lead, a lead they’d hold onto this time.
Rittich made his sixth appearance of the season for the Kings, stopping 17 of 20 shots. Rittich is now 3-3-0.
The Kings don’t have to wait long to try to get the losing taste out of their mouths as they’ll see the Vegas Golden Knights for the second time in eight days tomorrow, Wednesday at 7:00 PM in LA on TNT.
