SAN JOSE, Calif. — Getting down in a series seems to bring out the best of the Los Angeles Kings. Especially when they’re playing the San Jose Sharks.
Tanner Pearson scored 3:47 into overtime and the Kings bounced back from a pair of series-opening losses at home to beat the Sharks 2-1 in Game 3 in the first round Monday night.
“It’s a confident group when our backs are against the wall,” Pearson said. “We’re still there and we’ve got to fight back to even up the series.”
Anze Kopitar added a power-play goal, Jonathan Quick made 29 saves and Los Angeles killed two third-period penalties to cut San Jose’s lead in the series to 2-1. The Kings rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to beat the Sharks in the first round two years ago on the way to their second Stanley Cup title.
“You know they’re thinking a little bit about it now, so we’re right where we want to be,” said defenceman Drew Doughty, who played 35:01 of the game.
Game 4 is Wednesday night in San Jose.
Joe Thornton scored 30 seconds into the game for the Sharks, but San Jose couldn’t get anything else by Quick as their regular-season pattern of road dominance and home struggles extended to the playoffs. The Sharks led the NHL with 28 road wins in the regular season and added two to start this series. But San Jose has lost 24 of 42 home games for the worst record on home ice of any playoff team.
“It’s the first team to four,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “I couldn’t care less where we win the game. We played well enough to win the game tonight. We out-shot them, out-chanced them. We didn’t win.”
Martin Jones made 22 saves but couldn’t stop Pearson.
Dustin Brown laid a big hit on Brenden Dillon in the neutral zone to get the puck to Pearson at the blue line. Pearson skated in on a 2-on-1 with Vincent Lecavalier and decided to shoot for the winner.
“I just didn’t want to risk forcing a pass across and turning it over,” Pearson said. “So I just wanted to get it on net.”
After the teams traded goals in the first, it was a tense contest with neither side wanting to give up any quality chances. The best opportunities came on the power play, with Los Angeles generating numerous chances on one opportunity late in the second period without scoring.
The Kings then survived a penalty kill midway through the third after Milan Lucic was called for slashing Justin Braun well behind the play. The Sharks kept the puck in the offensive zone for almost the entire two-minute penalty with great puck movement. But Quick made a big save against Logan Couture and Jake Muzzin came up with a key blocked shot before Los Angeles’ drained penalty killers were able to clear the puck.
“It felt like we were going to get it,” Thornton said. “The crowd was into it. They broke a stick. We had a lot of shots. It felt like it was right there. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen.”
