Photo credit: USA Today

By Pearl Allison Lo

LOS ANGELES– In a much more physical game, Game 4 started out tight and then got looser as the Kings stayed alive to defeat the San Jose Sharks 6-3, Thursday.

As would seem befitting for a team fighting for their playoff lives, Los Angeles kept scoring first, but the Sharks answered back each time until there were 59 seconds left in the second period. The puck went right to Tyler Toffoli as he scored in a similar place to Justin Williams’ second goal, to nab the game-winner and give the Kings a two goal lead. From Jeff Carter to Alec Martinez, the puck made contact with Andrew Desjardins before heading to Toffoli, who also celebrated his birthday.

The teams shared seven penalties between each other during the first period.

The Kings’ Marian Gaborik’s first goal hit Antti Niemi’s left leg and slid through at 4:08 as Gaborik scored for the second straight game to make it 1-0. Dustin Brown and Slava Voynov aided on the play.

At 16:59, the Sharks’ Mike Brown and Los Angeles’ Kyle Clifford were given 10 minute misconducts. This was the second pair of matching penalties before the puck drop for the two teams.

Eight seconds before the first ended, San Jose’s Tomas Hertl used persistence again and got an assist, while James Sheppard got his first career playoff goal and fourth point of the series. Sheppard took a swing to the puck while it was in the air to even up the game.

Four minutes later, not counting intermission, Williams scored his first of the game on the power play. Mike Richards and Jake Muzzin helped on the play.

It was then the Sharks’ Matt Nieto’s turn to score for the second straight game, after corralling a shot Patrick Marleau bounced off goalie Jonathan Quick. It was 2-2 at 8:25 of the second.

The Kings then helped made it 3-2 by winning the faceoff. Off the backboard, Williams slid the puck past Niemi to score his second of the game at 16:07. Willie Mitchell and Jarret Stoll assisted.

Los Angeles continued scoring just 34 seconds into the third period. San Jose’s Brad Stuart lost the puck along the boards, Anze Kopitar picked it up and passed it to Gaborik who got Niemi off balance. Gaborik’s second goal of the night brought in Alex Stalock as a replacement.

The Kings’ first quest for a sixth goal did not end up as planned. What initially looked like a goal was called a no goal as they were called for cross-checking in front of the net. The Sharks’ Joe Pavelski then lifted the puck in on the ensuing power play, off the final rebound off Quick, this one his glove.

Toffoli then made it another 6-3 game in the series. He intercepted a pass from Joe Thornton, and passed it across the ice to Dustin Brown, who dumped the puck into the empty net at 18:32.

Both teams committed seven penalties apiece in the third period. Most occurred after the final goal as to name some, five players were called for roughing at 19:36. San Jose’s Brent Burns and Los Angeles’ Robyn Regehr rounded out the game and were whistled for fighting at 20:00.

Regarding the game recap, the Sharks’ Logan Couture mentioned, “…the first two periods they were better than we were, so in the third we played better…” and Coach Todd McLellan commented, “we can talk about the ones we missed, but I’m a little more concerned about the ones we gave up.”

Game notes: Game 5 will be Saturday at the SAP Center at 7pm.