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 Center Joe Pavelski scored a goal and recorded two assists, leading
the Sharks to a 5-1 romp over the Kings on Wednesday night in a
chippy affair at Staples Center.
"Obviously, there were some hits out there that were questionable,"
said Pavelski, the Sharks' leading scorer last season with 70 points
(37 goals, 33 assists). "But it's part of the game, part of playing
the Kings. It's part of the NHL on a nightly basis."
Sharks center Joe Thornton and defenseman Brent Burns added a goal
and an assist apiece as the Sharks (1-0-0) pounded the Kings by
scoring five consecutive times. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic had
two assists for San Jose, which delivered a win in coach Peter
DeBoer's debut.
"I think the game tonight was a culmination of a month of hard
work," DeBoer said. "We showed up at camp and really worked and paid
attention to detail, and the guys were a captive audience. Tonight,
we played like we're going to have to play, four lines, six
defensemen, great goaltending, great special teams."
San Jose rolled to a lopsided decision in the opener for the second
consecutive season after beating Los Angeles 4-0 to open 2014-15.
"We played against a big, fast team and we didn't play like a big,
fast team," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said.
Goaltender Martin Jones, a former King who was acquired by the
Sharks in an offseason trade with the Boston Bruins, shook off an
early goal before blanking Los Angeles the rest of the way. Jones
stopped 19 of 20 shots.
"I was just trying to approach it like it was another game," Jones
said of meeting his former club. "Obviously, it was exciting, and I
waited a long time for that game. It was good that we got the
result."
Goalie Jonathan Quick saved 27 of 32 shots for the Kings (0-1-0).
The Kings wasted little time scoring, but they fell apart after
that. Center Nick Shore deflected a shot from right winger Dustin
Brown past Jones and into the net for a 1-0 Los Angeles lead at 1:49
of the first period. For Shore, it was his second career goal.
However, San Jose regrouped.
"Obviously, it's not the way you want to start a game," Jones said.
"I thought we showed a lot of character as a group, not letting that
kind of spiral. It could have easily done that. But I thought we did
a great job coming back from that."
Thornton tied the score at 1 by smoking a shot from the circle over
Quick's shoulder at 9:43 of the first.
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After Shore went to the box for a delay penalty, Pavelski gave the
Sharks a 2-1 lead six seconds later, redirecting a blast by Burns
and past Quick for a power-play goal with 4:08 remaining in the
first.
Burns increased the margin to 3-1 by converting a pass from Pavelski
and firing a rocket past Quick at 6:07 of the second period.
Center Tomas Hertl added another power-play goal for the Sharks with
a tip-in, giving San Jose a 4-1 advantage at 8:14 of the second.
Rookie right winger Joonas Donskoi capped the Sharks' scoring with a
deflection of a Pavelski shot for his first NHL goal at 3:31 of the
third period.
"It was definitely not the game that we drew up, and our special
teams were not good," Kings forward Anze Kopitar said. "We just
talked about them, but we didn't execute them. We didn't play the
way we should. It was very sloppy."
NOTES: An announced crowd of 18,238 attended. ... San Jose signed D
Cavan Fitzgerald to a standard entry-level contract Wednesday. The
19-year-old led the Halifax Mooseheads (Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League) in points for defensemen with three goals and two assists in
seven games this season. Fitzgerald participated in the Sharks'
training camp last month as an undrafted free agent and played well
enough to land a deal. "I'm still kind of on cloud nine," Fitzgerald
said. ... San Jose scratched RW Ben Smith and D Dylan Demelo. D
Brayden McNabb, D Derek Forbort and C Jordan Weal were unavailable
for Los Angeles. ... The Sharks host the Anaheim Ducks in their home
opener Saturday, while the Kings meet the visiting Arizona Coyotes
in the second contest of their five-game homestand Friday.
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