The LA Kings earned a point to conclude the homestand but they were unable to collect the second, as they fell by a 4-3 final against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
Neither team found the back of the net in a first period that had a decent pace but turnovers at both ends, particularly by the Kings, prevented a ton of control and dangerous chances despite that pace.
San Jose opened the scoring on its first power play of the game inside the first five minutes of the second period, with forward Tyler Toffoli giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead against his former team. The visitors moved the puck well, with forwards Macklin Celebrini and Alex Wennberg both getting touches, on route to Toffoli at the back post, where he buried his 11th goal of the season to put the Sharks ahead 1-0.
Midway through the second period, the Kings pushed back to tie the game at one, with the Fiala/Turcotte/Kuzmenko line converting once again. Forward Kevin Fiala drove into the slot, attacking off the right wing, and although his shot on goal was saved by Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, forward Alex Turcotte got on the rebound and slotted it home for his third goal of the season for a 1-1 score through 40 minutes of play.
The Sharks capitalized again on the man advantage, this time early in the third period, to open up a 2-1 lead. Stationed at the center point, forward Jeff Skinner put a shot towards the net, with forward Adam Gaudette getting a deflection along the way, sending the puck past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper and in. The goal gave San Jose two goals on the power play for the game and one-goal lead in the process.
Just over 60 seconds after San Jose took the lead, however, the Kings came right back to tie the game at two goals apiece. The same forward line got in on the action, as Turcotte knocked a Joel Edmundson rebound directly to Fiala in front, where he buried his team-leading 16th goal of the season to equalize for the hosts. The assist gave Turcotte his second multi-point game of the season and the first multi-assist game of his NHL career.
The Kings thought they had the go-ahead goal from Edmundson, but upon a video review, it was ruled that he knocked the puck into the net with his glove, with the goal disallowed. Edmundson facilitated the eventual go-ahead goal shortly after, however, as his shot from the point was deflected by forward Alex Laferriere and in for his 11th goal of the season, giving Edmundson a multi-assist game and the Kings a 3-2 lead late in the game.
With just over a minute on the clock, however, Celebrini turned in a dazzling individual effort to tie the game at three and force overtime. After he knocked down a clearing attempt from defenseman Mikey Anderson at the point, Celebrini went to work as he stickhandled around two Kings players and beat Kuemper clean with a low shot for a multi-point game and the game-tying goal.
Celebrini made the difference in overtime as well, as he led a 2-on-1 rush, following a turnover at the offensive blueline by forward Adrian Kempe. Celebrini first held the puck himself before he fed forward William Eklund through the slot, where the Swede buried the game-winning goal for a 4-3 overtime victory.
Hear from Edmundson, Fiala and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.
