The Los Angeles Kings finally got their first victory in regulation time. Now it’s up to the San Jose Sharks to do the same.
The Sharks will have their next opportunity against the visiting Kings on Tuesday night.
After Los Angeles beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Sunday, the Sharks are the only team in the NHL without a victory in regulation this season.
San Jose is coming off a 6-5 overtime victory over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday to cap a four-game road trip. The Sharks blew three two-goal leads before Macklin Celebrini won it in overtime with his sixth goal of the season.
“There are some things we definitely need to clean up, for sure, especially around our net,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “People are accessing our network too easily, so we’ll go back. We’ll come back.”
Los Angeles had exceeded regulation in four straight games and six of nine this season before beating the Blackhawks in Game 4 of its five-game road trip.
The Kings were coming off a 5-4 loss to the Nashville Predators in a nine-round shootout Saturday night.
“They’re two good hockey teams and three points out of four on the road is pretty good,” Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson said. “Obviously we would have liked to win in Nashville, but you can’t win them all. It’s definitely something we’re going to build on, and the journey isn’t over yet. We have to go play San Jose and they’re playing good hockey.”
The Kings added forwards Joel Armia and Corey Perry to the roster this season, along with veteran defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci, and Edmundson said the new systems took time to learn.
“Our systems, not every team plays it and we have new guys in the locker room, so it takes time to adjust, but we’ve found our rhythm now,” Edmundson said. “It’s always nice to go on the road and play good games.”
The Kings could be without forward Warren Foegele, at least for the near future.
He left the game about five minutes into the game Sunday with an upper-body injury and did not return.
Foegele ranked third in Los Angeles with 24 goals last season.
“He’ll be looked at a little more closely (Monday),” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “We’ll probably have an update (Monday), probably the next day when we’re in San Jose.”
Celebrini, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, scored five of his six goals during the four-game road trip. In addition to his game-winning goal on Sunday, he had two assists.
“Yeah, he had a really good road trip,” Sharks forward Tyler Toffoli said. “He led the charge, for sure. Obviously, he’s an integral part of our team and our organization. It was another great performance (Sunday).”
Regarding the team’s overall performance, Toffoli said the Sharks needed to improve on their ability to maintain their lead in the third period, which would certainly help secure their first regulation victory.
“Give up too many chances,” Toffoli said of Sunday’s third period. “I stepped back and let them forecheck and do what they wanted to do. So obviously that’s something we have to figure out.”
–Field level media
