Brandt Clarke scored the winning goal with just over six and a half minutes remaining in the third period as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-3 despite being outshot 40-14.
The Sharks overcame a 3-0 deficit to tie the game. Darcy Kuemper made 37 saves for the Kings, who concluded a five-game road trip with four wins and at least one point in each game.
Game Recap
After a back-and-forth first nine minutes or so, the Kings got the first major opportunity of the game when some Sharks overpassing led to a turnover and subsequent tripping penalty on Timothy Liljegren. Los Angeles didn’t score on the power play, but held the puck in the following seconds. When a Clarke shot hit the post, a battle ensued at the net between Corey Perry and Yaroslav Askarov, which Perry won by tapping the puck across the goal line.
The Sharks had two power plays the rest of the period — a slash on Jeff Malott and a Clarke high stick — but couldn’t capitalize on either of them. The Kings cleared out most of the Sharks’ zone entries on the former, and while the Sharks were more in sync on the second power play, putting four shots on net, Kuemper turned aside all of them.
Although San Jose dominated most of the early second period, the scoreboard didn’t show it. The Sharks recorded 13 of the period’s first 15 shots, but the other two went for Kings goals. On the first, Los Angeles took possession of the puck deep in their own zone and worked it up the boards, creating a rush which ended in a wrist-shot goal for Malott from the top of the circle.
The second came at the end of a long shift, and while the Kings were able to fully change, the Sharks were not. This left the Sharks out of position and gave Drew Doughty room to walk down and put home a high shot, which became his first goal of the season and the 161st of his career, tying the record for a Kings defenseman. The Sharks continued to push, controlling possession of the puck for a large portion of the period. However, they couldn’t get a shot past Kuemper.
They finally broke through with their 14th shot of the frame. After Will Smith took a shot that went wide, San Jose maintained possession, and Macklin Celebrini handled the puck around the net before a great lookaway pass to Smith, who connected on a wide-open net. Less than two minutes later, the Sharks scored again thanks to further sustained control and another great pass down low, this time from Alexander Wennberg to Philipp Kurashev, who scored for the first time since San Jose’s season opener. The period ended with the Kings leading 3-2.
In the third period, Malott’s second penalty of the game gave the Sharks another power play. After a few good opportunities but little actually put on goal, San Jose tied the game right as Malott came back on the ice. Kurashev returned Wennberg’s favor by finding the Swedish center with a great pass of his own. Although technically an even-strength goal, it was a power-play goal in all but name.
A Doughty penalty gave the Sharks another power play, but despite several great looks — the best by Michael Misa — they couldn’t push across the go-ahead goal, with Kuemper making multiple good saves. Misa showed visible frustration on the bench after the play.
After the Kings were able to create slightly more sustained possession, they used a good defensive zone breakout to get the puck to Adrian Kempe. He hesitated, using his patience to perfectly time a cross-ice pass to Clarke, who had space to rip a shot to Askarov’s glove side for the lead.
In the final minutes, San Jose pulled Askarov for an extra skater and even got a power play thanks to a delay of game penalty by Joel Edmundson. Despite putting up a flurry of shots, none reached the back of the net — Kuemper saved some, the Los Angeles skaters blocked some and others the Sharks just missed.
The Kings improved to 5-3-3 while the Sharks fell to 2-6-2. Both teams next play at home on Thursday (Oct. 30), Los Angeles against the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose against the New Jersey Devils.
