Game Recap: Sharks vs Kings 12/27

LOS ANGELES -- Kevin Fiala had a goal after being benched in the first period, and the Los Angeles Kings scored five straight in a 5-1 win against the San Jose Sharks at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday.

“The action was directed at Kevin,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “By-product was the team [reaction].”

Fiala did not play the remainder of the first after his turnover led to a breakaway goal by Fabian Zetterlund at 11:02. He responded by tying it 1-1 at 2:57 of the second period on a breakaway set up by Jordan Spence.

“Coaches don’t like doing that,” McLellan said. “We value what Kevin brings to the team. He’s a [heck] of a player and he works his [tail] off in practice, he works his [tail] off in games. It’s just some of the carelessness that has crept in, and we had to send a message.”

Adrian Kempe scored two goals in the third period, and Trevor Lewis and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for the Kings (20-7-4), who are 4-1-0 in their past five games. David Rittich made 24 saves.

“Having three days off, we tried to get our legs under us in the first,” Lewis said. “Obviously, got a little rust out, and we got back to our game.”

Kaapo Kahkonen made 38 saves for the Sharks (9-23-3), who have lost six straight games following a season-long four-game point streak (3-0-1).

“It just got away from us,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “We got demoralized.”

Lewis gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead at 3:10 of the second, 13 seconds after Fiala’s goal. He took advantage of a turnover behind the Sharks’ net and scored with a backhand.

“We were playing good hockey until those first two goals, and then the game kind of got away from us,” San Jose center Mikael Granlund said. “We got to be better at those situations.”

Dubois made it 3-1 at 12:26, scoring on the rebound of Arthur Kaliyev’s shot from the left circle. It was Dubois’ second straight game with a goal following a 13-game drought.

Kempe extended it to 4-1 at 3:36 of the third period by redirecting Matt Roy’s shot. He scored again at 15:42 after getting in behind the San Jose defense for the 5-1 final.

“All our four lines can score, obviously,” said Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who returned to the lineup after missing five games because of a lower-body injury. “That’s huge for us. A lot of skill, and they’re playing good and with good confidence. Still playing in the system, but doing some good stuff, scoring and being creative.”