The Los Angeles Kings will look to start another home-ice points streak when they host the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.
The Kings (40-23-9, 89 points) had their franchise-record 15-game home points streak end with Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Los Angeles holds second place in the Pacific Division, tied with the Edmonton Oilers but with one game in hand, and has lost two straight games.
Saturday marked the first time this season the Kings fell in regulation time when leading after two periods.
“Every loss is frustrating, but going into the third with the lead and kind of shooting ourselves in the foot there, giving them too many opportunities, kind of sucks,” forward Alex Laferriere said.
Laferriere’s goal had the Kings ahead early in the third period, but the lead disappeared with a dubious goal scored by Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews, who appeared to knock down the puck with a high stick moments before he tied the game.
Toronto netted the winner during a five-on-three power play.
“You can look at that game and say that’s kind of a playoff-style hockey game,” Laferriere said. “It’s a team that’s up at the top of the leaderboard in the league, so it’s a team we can match up against, and if a couple bounces go our way, we’re winning that game.”
Fortunately for the Kings, they have a quick turnaround against a last-place club, although the Sharks have won the last two meetings between the California clubs.
“I think everyone was happy for the most part with how we played,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “So try and build off of it, come tomorrow, reset and go at it again.”
The Sharks, who sit at the bottom of the league standings and have long been eliminated from playoff contention, had their modest two-game winning streak snapped with a 6-1 thumping by the New York Rangers on Saturday.
As has been the case too often this season, the Sharks (20-43-9, 49 points) were outmatched at the drop of the puck, falling behind with a pair of first-period goals and down 6-0 before scoring.
“I would say our young players had young games tonight,” coach Ryan Warsofsky said.
The Sharks finished an eight-game homestand with a 3-5-0 record. Adding to the frustration of failing to finish the stretch with a .500 mark was how a club that showed so much determination in a thrilling win over the Toronto Maple Leafs two nights earlier served up a dud.
“We just got away from the way we need to play,” defenseman Mario Ferraro told the San Jose Mercury News. “It’s a very fine line for us right now. It’s pretty obvious from the two games that we played well the things that we were doing to be successful, and (Saturday) was just not one of those nights.”
The only positive was that Cam Lund scored his first NHL goal in his second NHL game. Lund, a 2022 second-round draft choice, 34th overall, signed with the Sharks after his season at Northeastern University ended.
Lund grabbed a loose puck in the right circle and lifted a shot over the glove of Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick for the milestone marker and precious souvenir puck.
“My dad has a whole collection in his basement,” said Lund, whose parents were on hand. “So I’m sure we’ll put it down there.”
–Field Level Media
