NHL: Sharks jump on Kings for exhibition win in Utah
The Sharks scored with the game's opening minute and tacked on a pair of second period goals in rapid succession to hand Los Angeles a 3-1 loss at the E Center on Sunday night.
The Kings will face San Jose again when they open the regular season.
San Jose wasted no time after the puck dropped, putting itself in scoring position. Lukas Kaspar found Joe Pavelski after snagging the puck at the blue line. Pavelski was camped front and center in front of Kings goalie Jason LaBarbera and, working from such a perfect position, he tapped the puck in easily for a 1-0 lead.
Sharks coach Todd McLellan said the timing of the first goal couldn't have been better. San Jose caught a late flight to Salt Lake City and was scrambling just to get on the ice in time.
"I was very concerned as a coach that we might not be ready to play," McLellan said. "Getting the early goal kind of settled us down and allowed us to find our legs."
The Kings had rallied to tie things up two minutes into the period when Kyle Calder took the puck off a nice give-and-go from Jarret Stoll and punched it home.
Not to be outdone, the Sharks answered with two goals in a 53 second span near the end of the period.
Brad Lukowich made it 2-1 with less than three minutes left in the second when he took a pass from Kaspar between the circles and put the puck perfectly on frame. Patrick Marieau added the third and final goal less than a minute later on a power play when he backhanded the puck just inside the left post.
Although the San Jose offense had plenty of crisp moments, the Sharks still feel like there is a long way to go before they are in acceptable regular season form.
"We still need to sharpen up," Pavelski said. "We made some nice little mistakes out there. Tonight, they didn't cost us goals like they did in previous ones. "
Both clubs are mirroring one another in some ways. Los Angeles and San Jose are each breaking in new head coaches. The entire preseason has been about trying to implement new offensive and defensive schemes and mesh the right personnel with those schemes.
The progress is more clearly defined than two weeks ago, but plenty of rough edges remain.
"You can see them trying to execute, but the polish isn't there yet," McLellan said. "But that's why we play 82 games."
Although Los Angeles was the designated home team, both teams enjoyed plenty of support from the 8,881 fans in attendance. Sharks and Kings fans peppered the crowd throughout the arena.
"A lot of jerseys from both sides out there, so it was a fun game," Marieau said. "(It created) a fun atmosphere."
Coincidentally, the last NHL preseason game in 1998 involved the same two teams. Los Angeles prevailed in that match at the Delta Center, beating San Jose 2-1.
E-mail: jcoon@desnews.com
Recent comments
They made the same mistake in sunday's story nobody checks the facts…
Hockey Fan | Oct. 6, 2008 at 4:56 p.m.
That was a pretty great game, even as a Kings fan. I did wonder,…
Anonymous | Oct. 6, 2008 at 11:28 a.m.
