|
 "The only time I really think about it is when I'm asked a
question (about it)," Burns said. "It's been a totally different
year. It's been a great group."
Joonas Donskoi scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the
third period, and the Sharks eliminated the Kings from the Stanley
Cup playoffs with a 6-3 victory on Friday at Staples Center.
Donskoi slammed home the winner at 3:58 of the third as the Sharks
won the Western Conference quarterfinal series 4-1 and exacted
revenge from Los Angeles after the Kings erased a 3-0 deficit by
winning the final four games of their first-round series in 2014.
This wasn't much easier, the Sharks said, but the result was
entirely different.
"If you look throughout the series, we had to work to get any kind
of balance against this team," said Pavelski, who tied his career
high of five goals in a series. "There were I don't know how many
open nets we had where their defense were making saves right from
Game 1. They were making some good plays. There were some good saves
on both sides, but definitely it was a great team breakthrough
tonight and we stayed with it."
 Pavelski added a goal at 12:24 of the third as San Jose advanced to
the second round, where it meets Anaheim or Nashville. That series
is tied 2-2.
Melker Karlsson scored an empty-netter with 22 seconds left in the
third.
Logan Couture and Brent Burns each had three assists for San Jose.
Second-period goals by Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter and Kris Versteeg
rallied the Kings from a 3-0 deficit, but the Sharks seized the lead
again in the third.
"We were chasing the lead all the time pretty much every game, with
the exception of game one when we scored first and we were chasing
the lead the rest of the way," Kopitar said. "You just can't do
that."
Goaltender Martin Jones -- a former King -- made 19 saves for San
Jose.
The Kings' Jonathan Quick stopped 22 shots.
Donskoi scored on a wrist shot for his first goal of the series at
1:08 of the first period for a 1-0 San Jose lead.
[to top of second column] |
The Sharks had a chance to increase the margin for 1:44 early in the
first with a 5-on-3 advantage after Dustin Brown followed Luke
Schenn to the box for tripping Jones, but the Kings prevented them
from scoring.
However, Chris Tierney, on an assist from Brent Burns, made Los
Angeles pay at 11:21 with his first goal of the series to make it
2-0.
In the second period, a tip-in by Matt Nieto pushed the margin to
3-0 at 4:05. For Nieto, it was his first goal of the series.
San Jose got another chance to increase the deficit when Patrick
Marleau was awarded a penalty shot after getting hooked on a
breakaway by Jake Muzzin at 5:31 of the second, but Quick stuffed
it.
Shortly after, Los Angeles launched its comeback.
Kopitar was credited with a goal that took two fortuitous bounces.
Drew Doughty fired a rocked that glanced off Dwight King and then
off the skate of Kopitar for the center's second goal of the series
and reduce San Jose's lead to 3-1.
Carter sliced it to a goal when he fielded a pass from Muzzin and
bounced a shot off the top of the crossbar and into the net at
11:26.
Versteeg tied the score with 3:24 left in the second.
But the rally would go for naught.
"We never came to the dressing room after a period with a lead and
we weren't able to establish the lead and play with it for the whole
series, and we were always playing from behind," Kings left winger
Milan Lucic said.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
