Waking up with the Kings: April 18

The San Jose Sharks are a better team than they were a year ago at this time. They’re not necessarily jump-out-to-a-five-nothing-lead-against-the-Kings-improved, but there is more balance throughout their lineup when healthy, and it was exhibited Thursday as all four lines recorded a goal and all forwards but Andrew Desjardins recorded a point. Whereas TJ Galiardi – who had five goals in 36 games last season – skated to the left of Joe Thornton and Brent Burns in last year’s series, this time around it’s 41-goal man Joe Pavelski. Tomas Hertl, who tied for the team lead with five shots and recorded a goal and an assist, was not a member of the 2013 Sharks. Jason Demers, who skated as a forward during part of last year’s series, finished second amongst Sharks defensemen in 2013-14 scoring. Raffi Torres was limited to one game in last year’s series due to his hit to Jarret Stoll’s head, and on Thursday he scored and finished with a team-high seven hits while providing just under nine minutes of tough ice time.

The Kings opened with a dreadful first period and followed it up with with a second period that continued the bizarre and un-Kingly development of having to fend off an onslaught of odd-man rushes. Los Angeles had an opportunity on the game’s first shift when Jeff Carter was sprung for an angled, semi-breakaway, though Annti Niemi denied his wristshot. The trajectory of the game may have been thrown off somewhat by that goal, but it’s a minor footnote in the game given the Sharks’ forwards ease in entering the Kings’ zone throughout the first 40 minutes. This game was broken open by the two late first period goals by Hertl and Patrick Marleau. If L.A. exits the first period trailing 1-0, they head back to the locker room, regroup, and continue to play the game they’re comfortable of playing. With those two goals in the final minute of the period – the first coming off a neutral zone turnover and the second off a turnover entering the offensive zone – all of a sudden the Kings are forced to play from three goals down, a game situation that likely contributed to the ugly odd-man rushes that came to define much of the second period.

There were some rough nights defensively for Los Angeles. Robyn Regehr, who was very good in last year’s playoff series against San Jose, struggled on Thursday. Willie Mitchell had a rough first period. Would Matt Greene make a difference if he were to be inserted in the lineup? It’s tough to say, but while adding size and strength the Kings wouldn’t be gaining any foot speed that could be beneficial in such a match-up. These defensive shortcomings can also be placed on the forwards, who for much of the game were unable to consistently slow the Sharks down through the neutral zone. Jonathan Quick was hung out to dry all night and faced too high a percentage of Grade-A opportunities, though he, too, clearly had a rough go. There were other Game 1s in which he turned aside an onslaught of quality opportunities – I’m looking at both series openers against St. Louis over the last two years – but while he was excellent in those games, he didn’t face as high a frequency of odd-man rushes.

It’s no consolation, but the Kings were able to generate some offense in the third period via quality zone time and some shaky final minutes from Niemi. The heavy puck possession in the third was likely more of an indication that one team can’t batter another team around the ice for full 60 minutes; it will be interesting to see if the momentum carries through the long wait into Sunday’s game. Though Niemi made tough saves in the first period on Carter and in the second period on a Toffoli shot from a 3-on-2 rush, he sprung a leak in the third period when pressured.