Kings Defeat Sharks In Last Game 4-3

After a humiliating defeat to Phoenix in their final home game, the San Jose Sharks not only wanted to win and secure their first ever franchise President's Trophy, but they needed to re-establish their game heading into the playoffs.  The Los Angeles Kings had nothing to play for but pride in their final game of the season in front of their fans, after a bad stretch in March took them out of the late season playoff run.  The Kings gave the hockey world a glimpse of what's to come next season, as they flexed their offensive muscles and got huge saves from their goaltender to send the Sharks into the playoffs on a two game losing streak.

San Jose got off to a good offensive start, courtesy of several Kings penalties at the start of the game.  On their second power play attempt just 5 minutes into the game, Devin Setoguchi took a rebound in front of Jon Quick, and shot the puck around the pads to put the Sharks up 1-0.  But Michal Handzus shifted the momentum to the Kings, scoring a critical tying goal through a screen from a shot from the blue line that started a scoring spree for Los Angeles.  After the Handzus goal, Los Angeles had control of the puck for almost the rest of the first period, and a strong forecheck by Alexander Frolov behind the San Jose net created a turnover, and Frolov was able to quickly skate in front of Evgeni Nabokov and swing a backhand shot to Nabokov's far side to give the Kings the lead 2-1.
Early in the second period, the Kings continued to pour it on offensively courtesy of a San Jose penalty.  11 seconds into their second power play of the game, Wayne Simmonds shot the puck hard from the sidewall that Nabokov never saw through a screen, and the Kings had a 3-1 lead.  But late in the second, the Sharks finally got their flow back.  On Los Angeles's fifth penalty of the game, Marc-Edouard Vlasic shot the puck from the point, which deflected twice off San Jose sticks, the last being Joe Pavelski, and the puck rang off the post and into the net to put the Sharks back within one.
A San Jose turnover early in the third period proved to be fatal.  A pass off the boards failed to connect and was turned over to John Zeiler, who quickly shot the puck off Nabokov.  Peter Harrold was in front of the net, and lifted the rebound over the leg of the San Jose goaltender before he could recover, and the Kings re-gained the 2 goal lead.  But once again, off the power play, San Jose got right back in the game.  Right off the faceoff, a designed play found Patrick Marleau on the other side of the ice from the puck drop, and he one-timed a shot under the legs of Quick to cut the lead to 4-3.  However, the Sharks were not able to score late in the third, despite several wide open scoring chances.  The best chance came when Quick fell down to make a save, and the rebound came right to Milan Michalek's stick.  Michalek couldn't handle the puck as it was bouncing, but managed to throw it to the slot to Ryane Clowe.  Quick went down low, and Clowe had nothing but an empty net to tie the game, but he shot the puck too high and it went over the crossbar and behind the net.  San Jose pulled Nabokov for the extra skater but never got a solid scoring opportunity out of it, and the Kings held on to win 4-3.

The match was the final game of the regular season for both teams.  Midway through the third period, it was determined that San Jose would be the recipient of the President's Trophy regardless of the outcome, as Boston had lost to Buffalo.  It is the franchise's first President's Trophy in their 18 year history.  Although they lost, San Jose came into the game wanting to get their game back, and they were successful in at least one aspect of what had given them such a dominant start in the season, as all 3 of their goals came on the power play and they only allowed 1 power play goal on 6 Los Angeles attempts.  John Zeiler's assist on the game winning goal early in the third period was his first point of the season.  With the win, the Kings avoided being swept by the Sharks this season, as they are 1-5 against San Jose this season.  San Jose will be the first seed in the playoffs, but are waiting to see who their first round opponent will be, as Anaheim and St. Louis are tied for 8th and both have 1 game remaining in the season.  If they are still both tied, Anaheim would win the tie breaker, giving them the 7th seed.