~ (AP Photo/ Mark J. Terrill)

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ LOS ANGELES– As the regular season matchup came to a close on Rivalry Night, it was another close scoring game as San Jose emerged on top, 3-2 Wednesday versus the Los Angeles Kings.

Four out of the five-game series were one goal games, including the last three. The Sharks never trailed, but held a two-goal lead only for 5:19.

Both San Jose’s Joe Thornton and the Kings’ Dustin Brown had two assists apiece.

The Sharks’ Logan Couture missed his first game of the season, giving birthday boy Ryan Carpenter the opportunity to start.

“…we called some guys up and had a little bit of a thin line up, but I thought we competed our ass off. We played hard, this isn’t an easy building to win in. They play a physical game and we stood in there and played a real, complete game,” said San Jose coach Peter DeBoer. Joe Pavelski echoed, “It was a good feeling in this room when we came in here…you just felt like you put in a complete effort.”

The Sharks struck first when Brent Burns sniped the top right corner of the net through traffic at 3:31. Melker Karlsson got the puck along the boards and sent it to Joe Thornton. Thornton eventually turned around and made his way to the blue line, passing the puck to Burns. The puck went off Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar on its way to its destination.

Then in less time than San Jose’s first goal took, the Kings tied the game. After Brown’s pass, Derek Forbort, in a similar position to Burns, sent the puck  to the net. Tanner Pearson in front, pushed Justin Braun aside to bat the puck into the net at 5:46. The goal was challenged for goalie interference, but it remained a 1-1 game.

The Sharks tacked on another goal with an odd man rush. Tommy Wingels finished the pass from Micheal Haley across Jake Muzzin’s stick and let the puck fly at 15:42.

Both teams traded penalties again in the second period, but this time San Jose capitalized on their side. Not too long after the faceoff, Joel Ward deflected Thornton’s shot to the backboards and Pavelski jammed the puck under Peter Budaj’s leg 10 minutes into the period for the 3-1 lead.

13 seconds after penalties that left Los Angeles shorthanded ended though, they inched back closer. The Kings took several shots at Martin Jones within the midst of a sea of Sharks and Marian Gaborik scored with Thornton in net at 15:19.

It was surprising that each team only scored one goal apiece in the period. There were a total of 10 penalties in the middle frame, with the period ending on a penalty to Patrick Marleau, an illegal check to the head.

In the third, action included a Haley shot that hit the post, three wrist shots saved by Jones in a matter of 10 seconds and a Mikkel Boedker breakaway attempt.

When asked if glad to be done with Los Angeles already, DeBoer concurred, “If we don’t see them again, I’ll be alright with that.”

Game notes: San Jose’s Marc-Edouard Vlasic had a game-high six hits. San Jose next plays the Lightning Thursday at 7:30pm.