The Los Angeles Kings have appeared to be back to their Stanley Cup championship ways, as they are now up 2-0 in their series against the San Jose Sharks, as the team rallied from behind to win Game 2 and take a 2-0 advantage in the series with a 4-3 win on Thursday night.
The team got goals from four different players, including from Dustin Brown and Jeff Carter, while Patrick Marleau scored one for the Sharks. Jonathan Quick had 28 saves in the game, while Antti Niemi had 27 in the loss as the Kings were able to score two goals in the third period after adding one in each the first and the third. After defeating the Blues the team has that look against and they may be the ones to beat West.
With the Kings on a five-on-three powerplay, captain Dustin Brown tied the score with a backhand shot at 18:17 in the third period to spark thunderous roars from a sellout crowd of 18,527 at Staples Center. Just 22 seconds later, center Trevor Lewis pounced on a loose puck from the left side of an open net for the go-ahead goal and the Kings held on to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Goaltender Jonathan Quick, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player during last season's playoffs, made 28 saves for Los Angeles, who have now won 12 straight games on home ice since March. Antti Niemi stopped 27 shots for the Sharks, who will have to rebound when the series shifts to San Jose for Game Three on Saturday.
Los Angeles fought back from a goal down with less than two minutes to play to stun the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in a frenzied finish to Game Two of their Western Conference semi-finals on Thursday. San Jose coach Todd McLellan said he had been impressed by the overall performance and character of his players on Thursday night as they came back from an early 0-2 deficit.
"We found a way," Kings head coach Darryl Sutter told reporters after his team had won their sixth straight playoff game. "You know what? The power play was on. We've been talking about it.
(Reuters quotes)
