San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski (No 8) celebrates his second goal scored against Los Angeles Kings during the third period at Staples Center. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports
By Curtis Pashelka/San Jose Mercury News
Joe Pavelski put an epic finishing touch on the San Jose Sharks’ five-game trip Tuesday night.
Pavelski scored power play goals 92 seconds apart in the third period and finished with three points as the Sharks came from behind to earn a thrilling 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.
The Sharks went 3-1-1 on their five-game trip to remain in second place in the Pacific Division. It wouldn’t have been possible without the heroics of Pavelski, who had five goals and four assists on the trip to raise his season total to 36 points.
Joe Thornton and Brent Burns added three points each, with Burns scoring an empty-net goal with 1:10 to go in the third, as the Sharks’ road record this season improved to 13-6-2.
With the Sharks trailing 3-2, Pavelski redirected a shot from Burns past Kings goalie Jonathan Quick 6:06 into the third period, four seconds after the start of a high-sticking penalty to Christian Ehrhoff.
With Milan Lucic in the penalty box for slashing, Pavelski gave the Sharks the lead 7:38 into the third, taking a pass from Thornton and scoring his 18th of the season.
The teams traded goals 57 seconds apart late in the second period. Tanner Pearson took control of a bouncing puck from Burns near the Sharks’ blue line, which created an odd-man rush the other way.
Pearson passed to Tyler Toffoli, who beat Martin Jones for his second goal of the game and a 3-1 Kings lead with 2:12 left in the second.
Burns answered on his next shift. After a good forecheck by Joonas Donskoi, Burns took a pass from Thornton and beat Quick with a shot from the blue line to cut Los Angeles’ lead to 3-2. The Sharks didn’t have an answer for the Kings in the first five minutes, as Toffoli and Trevor Lewis scored for a 2-0 lead. Both goals came after the Sharks lost faceoffs in their own zone. The Sharks were outshot 21-6 in the first and managed just three shots in the final 11 minutes. But one of those got past Quick, as Brenden Dillon put one on net from the blue line.
Pavelski got a stick on it, but so did Thornton, who got credit for his sixth goal of the season as the Sharks cut the Kings’ lead to 2-1 with 7:48 left in the first period.
The Sharks had their chances to tie the score early in the second period with two power plays but managed just one shot in those four minutes. San Jose came into Tuesday having converted four of their previous 10 power play chances.
The Sharks killed off three Kings power plays in the first two periods, including two in the second period. Melker Karlsson was back in the lineup after a brief bout with the flu and was on the third line with Chris Tierney and Tommy Wingels.
When he returned from an injury that kept him out of training camp and the first month of the season, Karlsson had four points in five games. Karlsson has since gone 13 games without a point.
“I’ve had a lot of chances, just haven’t put them in,” Karlsson said Tuesday morning.
“Maybe when I get one and get the confidence going, maybe they start coming. As long as I create chances, I feel good out there.”
The Sharks beat the Kings 5-1 on Oct. 7 in the season opener for both teams. Los Angeles evened the season series Oct. 22 with a 4-1 win, as it scored twice on the power play and killed all five of its penalties.
“They pushed back against us in San Jose and played a harder game,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said Tuesday.
“I thought we were just OK last game against them compared to the first game. For me, we have to find another level here tonight to where we were the last time we played them.”
Joel Ward’s upper body injury prevented him from playing Tuesday, but he and DeBoer both felt fortunate that the injury was not severe.
Ward said Tuesday morning that he was feeling better but still was stiff from the hit he took from Mark Borowiecki in the last minute of Friday’s game against the Ottawa Senators.
Ward saw a physician in the Los Angeles area Monday and got relatively good news that all he needed was to rest. He is optimistic that he’ll be able to play Monday when the Sharks host the Avalanche.
