This was a neck-and-neck game between the Sharks and Kings, but it was the LA Kings that ultimately prevailed in the shootout 3-2.
Early in the first period, Radim Simek was penalized for tripping, setting up a power play for the Kings that allowed Philip Danault to score the first goal of the game. The Sharks evened things up later in the first on the power play via Timo Meier's 15th goal of the year from Logan Couture and Erik Karlsson. Late in the second period, the Sharks went ahead 2-1 on Kevin Labanc's seventh goal of the season, with Timo Meier picking up the assist on the Sharks' second goal for his second point of the night, only for the the Kings to tie it again about a minute after via Jaret Anderson-Dolan. That Labanc goal was amazing, taking the great feed from Timo launching one via the slapshot to find the back of the net.
This contest was tied at two through the third period to force overtime and a shootout. Both of the Sharks' and Kings' first two shootout attempts went for not, but both teams made up for it on their next attempts via Kevin Fiala and Kevin Labanc to keep the shootout going. The difference-maker in the skills competition was Trevor Moore, who scored in round seven, while Alexander Barabanov failed to score in round eight to give the Kings the extra point in this one.
James Reimer had an outstanding performance in net, recording 39 saves, only for the Sharks to let that go to waste in the shootout.
The end result sucked, and this is one of those games that make a solid case for the NHL to do away with the shootout in the future. What made this loss feel worse was that it was in the hands of one of their biggest, most hated rivals. Next up, the Sharks return home to face the Calgary Flames tonight in the second game of a back-to-back set at 7 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App
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