By Matthew T.F. Harrington

AP photo: San Jose Sharks Logan Courture (left) and Brett Burns (88) celebrate Burn’s third period goal against the Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center on Wednesday night

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks raised the franchise’s first Western Conference Championship banner Wednesday night then crowned the 2016-17 season with a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Logan Couture tied the game in the first period and Brent Burns scored the game winner in the third period for the Sharks (1-0-0). Martin Jones made 21 saves while Kings net minder Jonathan Quick allowed one goal on 15 shots before departing the game with a lower body injury after just one period.

The Kings (0-1-0) scored the first goal on a power play in a bizarre sequence of events, with Tyler Toffoli scoring his first goal of the season after a break out campaign last season. The 31-goal scorer plucked a puck off the boards and fired it from a low percentage angle. The puck originally appeared to go out of play with the goal light not coming on. The Los Angeles skaters all celebrated the shot though, with the referees agreeing that Toffoli indeed picked Jones’ top corner for a 1-0 lead 1:22 into the game.

The lethal first power play unit (1 for 3 on the night) for the Sharks helped the hosts draw even after after Joe Pavelski’s pass into the slot landed on Logan Couture’s stick. Couture ripped the one-timer past Quick with 5:55 left in the first.

Pavelski, always playing until the whistle, made sure Couture’s shot went in. He tipped the puck back into the net, drawing the ire of Quick. The former Vezina Trophy winner bolted from his crease to confront Pavelski, injuring himself in the process. Backup Jeff Zatkoff opened the second period in net with Kings fans concerned about the long-term health of their workhorse goalie.

The Sharks, however, aren’t concerned about their masked man. Jones looked sterling in net to build of his phenomenal previous season. His performance allowed Burns, a Norris Trophy finalist last year, to net the game-winner off Zatkoff. In total Zatkoff faced 16 shots, turning aside 15.

Burns was the beneficiary of hard work from center Couture and a perfect feed from Joonas Donskoi 3:20 into the third. Couture dug the puck free along the boards, kicking it to Donskoi on the wing. Donskoi slid the puck cross-crease from Zatkoff’s right to Burns for the tap-in. Couture picked up his second point of the night, assisting on the goal.

After getting their first win at home, the Sharks hit the road for a five-game road trip beginning Saturday in Columbus. Last season, the Sharks won a league-high 28 road games while struggling at home with only 18 wins.