Martin Jones makes 32 saves to lead Sharks past Kings 5-2

Molly AronsonJanuary 15, 2022

0 0 2 minutes read

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Martin Jones made 32 saves to stymie Los Angeles again, Patrick Marleau scored his 566th career goal, and the San Jose Sharks beat the Kings 5-2 on Friday night. Kevin Labanc, Rudolfs Balcers, and Dylan Gambrell also scored, and Brent Burns had three assists to give San Jose its fifth win in six games. Tomas Hertl added an empty-net goal.

But the key to this victory was once again Jones. He beat the Kings for the sixth time this season and has a .933 save percentage in seven games against his former team. He joined Mike Vernon (1997-98 against Anaheim) as the only Sharks goalies to beat one team six times a season.

“It’s going well,” Jones said. “It’s more fun winning hockey games. The challenge for us as a group is not to change anything when things are going well. ‘We’re a tough team to play against when we play a certain way.” Alex Iafallo and Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored for Los Angeles, and Cal Petersen made 24 saves. The Kings have lost seven of nine.

Martin Jones

“Getting the first goal is a positive,” King’s captain Anze Kopitar said. “We hit the snooze button for a bit, and next thing you know, we’re down 3-1. That’s certainly not the recipe for success.”

Marleau scored in back-to-back games for the first time since November 2018 when Burns’ centering pass hit his skate and deflected past Petersen to make it 2-1 in the first. Marleau played his 1,762nd career game, five shies of tying Gordie Howe’s record.

“Patty has been excellent in the last few weeks,” coach Bob Boughner said. “It’s nice to see him at the top of his game as he approaches that record. He’s in a good spot for us.”

That goal was part of a three-goal ffirst-periodJone.s made a stand-up with a stellar second that included safallo and Trevor Moore. stops on breakaways

Jones did allow a soft goal from a wrong angle to Anderson-Dolan early in the third, but the Sharks held on for the win thanks to a short-handed breakaway goal by Gambrell with 3:00 remaining.

“Every time we play against this team, it’s a long chance, a poor pinch, a poor cover, and we chase the game night after night,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.

Summary show

SLOW STARTERS

Los Angeles scored first for the second time in seven meetings against San Jose this season when Iafallo was left alone in front to redirect a centering pass from Dustin Brown past Jones.

But that didn’t help the Kings solve their first-period woes, as the Sharks scored three times in less than 10 minutes after killing a penalty.

Labanc scored on the rush, Marleau gave San Jose the lead, and Balcers scored on a rebound after Timo Meier was stopped on a partial breakaway. It was the first three-goal first period for the Sharks since Nov. 12, 2019, against Edmonton. The Kings have been outscored by 18 goals in the opening period this season, second-worst in the league to Ottawa’s minus-21.

DROP THE GLOVES There were a pair of fights in the second period, with San Jose’s Jeffrey Viel squaring off against Kurtis MacDermid in a matchup of enforcers and the Sharks’ Marcus Sorensen taking on Andreas Athanasiou in a tame fight between unexpected combatants.

Sorensen and Athanasiou then fought again at the final buzzer.