San Jose Sharks Defeat Los Angeles Kings in Overtime
· Yahoo Sports
Just two games into the San Jose Sharks' new season, the long familiar "Beat LA" chants were being belted out at the SAP Center as they hosted the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
The extracurricular activities didn't take long to begin, as Macklin Celebrini went after Adrian Kempe after the first whistle when the Kings forward ran into the net, narrowly missing a collision with Sharks netminder Yaroslav Askarov. The Sharks got the first power play when the Kings' captain, Drew Doughty sat for cross-checking. The Sharks' power play started off strong, but were unable to convert before the veteran defenseman exited the penalty box.
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The Sharks had a couple of scares around the middle of the period, as Igor Chernyshov got some attention from training staff after a hard pass from Darnell Nurse caught him in the skate, leading to some clear pain. Doughty then collided with Askarov after being hooked by Nolan Allan, leading to a Sharks penalty kill. The Kings took advantage of the extra man and Kempe scored the opening goal.
The Sharks were unable to find an equalizer before the first period expired, but they did get a power play to start the second period as Alex Laferriere was called for roughing at the very end of the first frame.
Just like the Kings did in the first period, the Sharks took advantage of the power play and rookie Ivar Stenberg picked up his first career point. Stenberg found Toffoli on a cross-crease pass that he easily slipped past Anton Forsberg to tie the game at 1-1.
Sharks Highlight Reel: Stenberg Gets First Point in Spectacular FashionThe San Jose Sharks entered the second period of Saturday night's game against the Los Angeles Kings trailing 1-0 after Adrian Kempe scored his first of the season to put their arch enemies ahead.The Sharks then took the lead just eight seconds before the official halfway point of the game, as Kiefer Sherwood ripped a shot from the slot past Forsberg for his first goal of the season moments after intercepting a pass. Nolan Allan scored his first goal as a Shark on the rush at 12:32 in the second period, doubling the team in teal's lead and giving the fans their beloved tacos from Taco Bell.
With just over a minute remaining in the second period, the Kings started cycling the puck as there was a delayed penalty on Celebrini for slashing. It led to quite a few chances for the Kings before the Sharks were able to touch the puck, including a shot that hit the inside of the post. Ultimately, the Sharks were able to survive the unofficial penalty kill and Celebrini went into the penalty box with just over 30 seconds remaining in the period to start the official power play for Los Angeles. With 1.3 seconds remaining in the frame, Quinton Byfield sniped his first goal of the season to bring the Kings within a single goal heading into the final 20 minutes of play.
The Sharks doubled their lead when Igor Chernyshov scored his first goal of the season off of a nice breakout pass by Tyler Toffoli, making it a 4-2 game. While there's quite a bit of criticism of Toffoli's speed on social media, this play showed exactly why Ryan Warsofsky likes to keep him with the speedy youngsters. He placed a pass perfectly allowing Chernyshov to beat the defense.
Collin Graf skated to the penalty box at 7:42 in the third period after he tripped up the veteran Corey Perry, who seemed to go down a little easily. The Sharks' penalty kill was successful this time around and prevented a power play goal for the first time in the game. Prior to this, the Kings were two-for-two on the power play.
At 10:21 in the third period, Erik Haula scored his first of the season to bring the Kings within a goal once again. Then, Artemi Panarin scored his second goal of the campaign to tie things up with five minutes remaining. For the second time in two games, the Sharks weren't able to maintain a lead to close out a game in regulation.
For the second time in two games, the Sharks blew a third period lead and the game went to overtime. Once again, they had a young player serve as an overtime hero though, as this time it was Igor Chernyshov with his second goal of the night who secured a victory for the Sharks and improved their record to 2-0-0.