San Jose Sharks Beat Los Angeles Kings To Even Series
The San Jose Sharks downed the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in Game 4 at the HP Pavilion on Tuesday evening in the NHL playoffs.
Brent Burns and Logan Couture scored for the home team as they evened up the Western Conference semifinal at two games each.
Mike Richards scored the lone goal for the Kings who have seen their 2-0 lead in the series evaporate and they will now have to regroup ahead of Thursday’s pivotal encounter at Staples Center.
The Sharks dominated the early stages of the game with Joe Thornton leading the charge. He stole the puck from Slava Voynov before setting up Burns on his second attempt at 6:09 of the first period.
Thornton complimented Burns and stated he was confident the puck would start going in for his teammate sooner rather than later.
“Burnzie has been shooting the puck real well so it was just a matter of time until he put one in the net,” the San Jose captain said.
“After the first shot, the puck came right back to me. He was open again and I just made the pass.”
Couture made it 2-0 early in the second period as he was at the right place at the right time when Dan Boyle’s point shot hit his shin pad and beat Jonathan Quick.
The goal ended up being the game winner but Couture was quick to praise Thornton for his inspired performance.
“Joe was dominant tonight,” he said. “That was vintage Joe Thornton. Unbelievable, creating turnovers, making passes, skating. Skating like a young guy.
“He was flying. We need Joe to play like that for the rest of the playoffs.”
The Kings thought they had cut the deficit in half at 6:06 of the second period but a quick whistle nullified the goal, much to the chagrin of the visitors.
Richards did get Los Angeles on the board in the third period as they tried in vain to tie the game, despite outshooting the Sharks 14-2 in the final frame.
The San Jose Sharks held on to pick up a vital win over the Los Angeles Kings and the series is now tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 at Staples Center on Thursday.
