Kings at Sharks
With another historic comeback no longer necessary, the Los Angeles Kings attempt to even their first-round series when they visit the San Jose Sharks for a pivotal Game 4 on Wednesday. Los Angeles opened the matchup by dropping a pair of one-goal decisions at home and were in danger of needing its second rally from an 0-3 deficit versus San Jose in three years before Tanner Pearson scored 3:47 into overtime Monday to keep the club from being pushed to the brink of elimination.
"It was just about cutting the series in half tonight," Kings captain Dustin Brown, who assisted on Pearson's winning goal, told reporters afterward. "That’s what our mindset was coming up here; we accomplished that tonight. Recover and reload for Game 4." Despite keeping the Sharks off the board after Joe Thornton scored 30 seconds into Game 3, Jonathan Quick and company will need to be better from the drop of the first puck as San Jose has scored on its first shot in each of the first three contests. That has made taking a lead very difficult as Los Angeles has been ahead for a total of only 4 minutes, 2 seconds through the first three games. The Sharks outshot the Kings 23-11 after the first period but continued to struggle at home, where they went 18-20-3 during the regular season.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, USA, CBC, TVA, FSN West (Los Angeles), CSN California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE KINGS: Los Angeles was superb on the penalty kill in Game 3, keeping San Jose — which ranked third on the power play during the regular season (22.5 percent) — scoreless on five opportunities after allowing two goals on nine chances during the first two contests. "We found a way," Brown told reporters. "(Quick) made some big saves, blocked shots, couple bobbled pucks on their side — breaks that we needed to get, and that was probably the difference in the game, our PK." Drew Doughty has yet to record a point in the series but continues to log an extraordinary amount of ice time, playing over 29 minutes in each of the first two games before seeing 35:01 of action Monday.
ABOUT THE SHARKS: Joe Pavelski was kept off the scoresheet in Game 3 for the first time in the series and held to just one shot on goal. The captain recorded three goals and an assist in the first two games after registering four tallies and 10 points in the five regular-season meetings between the Pacific Division rivals. Thornton's goal on Monday was his 102nd career postseason point, breaking a tie with Scott Gomez and Hall-of-Famer Bernie Federko for 86th place on the all-time list.
OVERTIME
1. Sharks D Paul Martin entered Tuesday leading all players this postseason with 13 blocked shots — one more than Doughty and Chicago's Niklas Hjalmarsson.
2. The Kings are 6-10 when trailing 2-1 in a best-of-seven series.
3. San Jose has lost three straight home playoff meetings with Los Angeles dating to their 2014 first-round showdown.