Kings Fend Off Sharks in Overtime : Hockey: Donnelly scores with 1:13 remaining as L.A. ends its six-game winless streak with a 3-2 victory.
Yes, it was the Sharks. And no, the Kings’ offensive didn’t look very good for the first two periods. And yes, it took nearly 64 minutes to settle.
But when you’ve gone six games without a victory you are thankful for what you can get.
So the Kings were more than happy to get out of the Cow Palace Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks before a sellout crowd of 10,888.
Mike Donnelly scored the winning goal, his 10th goal of the season, putting the puck over goalie Jeff Hackett’s left shoulder from the left circle with 1:13 to play in the overtime.
With Daniel Berthiaume in goal, the Kings break an 0-4-2 slump to improve to 9-7-5. San Jose falls to 3-18-1 in its first season in the league.
For much of the game, it appeared as if neither side was going to score.
The Kings got only six shots in the first period.
Shots on the power play were even harder to come by. The Kings couldn’t get a shot on their first two power plays and just two in their first four, both of those missing the mark.
No surprise.
The Kings’ power play had been relatively powerless in the previous six games. The Kings had coverted on just two of 31 attempts in those six games and were zero for 11 in the last two.
But on their sixth power play Tuesday night, the Kings finally broke through, Luc Robitaille putting in a rebound off a missed shot by Darryl Sydor for his team-high 13th goal to give the Kings a 1-0 lead at 6:23 of the third period.
The Kings appeared to be in command at 12:27 when Tomas Sandstrom scored his fifth goal to boost the Kings into a 2-0 lead.
But only 10 seconds later, Perry Berezan put the puck through goalie Daniel Berthiaume’s pads for his third goal to cut the margin to 2-1.
The tying goal was not so clean. Neil Wilkinson threw the puck into the crease where Bozek and King defenseman Brian Benning were battling for position.
As they struggled, the puck, almost unnoticed, caromed off Bozek’s skate into the net at 14:55.
Bozek got credit for his fifth goal and the Sharks got a tie.
King Notes
Returning after sitting out five games because of a groin pull, King defenseman Charlie Huddy was injured again in the second period. Taking a shot from the right point, San Jose defenseman Neil Wilkinson hit Huddy on top of the head with the puck, opening a wound that required three stitches. Huddy returned for the third period.
As if they didn’t have enough worries, the Sharks have a long injury list. Sideleined are goalies Brian Hayward (back spasms) and Jarmo Myllys (bruised hand), defenseman Doug Wilson (dislocated thumb) and forwards Kelly Kisio (sprained ankle), Wayne Presley (bruised knee) and Tony Hrkac (broken wrist). All are sidelined indefinitely except for Presley, whose status is listed as day to day. He was injured Sunday night in an exhibition against Team USA, America’s entry in the 1992 Winter Olympics.
King defenseman Rene Chapdelaine played for the Kings’ Phoenix Roadrunner farm club Tuesday night. Not as a demotion, but on loan. Chapdelaine’s wife, Amy, gave birth to a baby boy Sunday in Phoenix. Since Chapdelaine was going there for the birth, the Kings “loaned” him to Phoenix for the night so he could get in a little work.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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