It was an uphill battle from the beginning on Monday night in San Jose. Going up against the Sharks for the third time already this season with the previous two being split, the trend of the home team prevailing continued. Falling behind early, the Kings were forced to play catch up and fell victim to their own self inflicted penalties by game's end.
The Sharks jumped the Kings early and took the lead 1:47 into the game. Catching the Kings defensive pair too far apart, Mario Ferraro sprung Nico Sturm for a breakaway up the middle of the ice and the German converted. Sturm’s tally was the only goal in the opening period that saw each team record six shots.
Enter period two and the Kings evened the score just 2:32 in. Gaining the offensive comfortably, Anze Kopitar fed a trailing Adrian Kempe who one-touched the puck to an open Brandt Clarke in the high slot. Clarke took advantage of the open ice in the slot and beat the southpaw Yaroslav Askarov on the glove side to knot the game at 1-1. Grabbing the momentum from the Sharks, the Kings then took a lead just over six minutes later. Head coach Jim Hiller shuffled up lines in the second period by putting Warren Foegele up with Kopitar and Kempe and it quickly paid dividends. Another successful in-zone entry saw the trio each get involved on the go-ahead goal as Foegele fed a net-front Kempe, who got off a shot and four more chances via rebounds before the puck found Kopitar on the side of the crease where the captain slid in his sixth goal and second point of the night. The Kings lead lasted 5:01 before a Fabian Zetterlund wraparound attempt banked into the Kings net off of Mikey Anderson’s skate to tie the game. The period went without another goal and the Kings entered the third period with a 19-11 lead in the shot department.
The game unraveled quickly for the Kings in the third period as the eventual game-winning goal came just 1:03 in. Catching David Rittich by surprise was the 2024 first overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini, who played in his first game against the Kings after missing the previous two meetings due to injury. Celebrini rifled a wrist shot from the outside of the face-off circle and beat Rittich far-side over the glove to put the Sharks up 3-2. Just 1:11 later, Timothy Liljegren one-timed a slap shot past Rittich and doubled the Sharks lead. Going from bad to worse, a failed goalie interference challenge put the Kings shorthanded. Just 20 seconds after that, a Foegele tripping penalty put the Kings down two men and the Sharks took advantage with Celebrini’s second goal of the period, this one coming on a one-timer. Now 5-2, a double minor from Kevin Fiala for high sticking put the Kings shorthanded again, and again the Sharks scored on the power play. The Sharks kicked the extra point with a seventh goal from Luke Kunin with 1:21 remaining in regulation to cap off their five-goal third period and sent the Kings home with a statement loss.
Rittich made his fourth consecutive start in place of the injured Darcy Kuemper and stopped 14 of 21 shots faced.
The Kings will return home and hope to put this game behind them quickly as a date with the NHL-best 18-4-0 Winnipeg Jets is set for Wednesday night.
