PRESEASON FINAL – Kings 4, Sharks 3 – McLellan’s takeaways + notes & photos

The LA Kings wrapped up their first victory of the 2021 preseason, with a 4-3 triumph over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday evening.

After falling behind by a goal early, the Kings stormed back with three goals in the second period, and closed the door in the third for the win. Goaltender Jonathan Quick, in his preseason debut, made 22 saves on 23 shots, including 18-of-19 in the first period, as he played just over half the game. He was eventually relieved by Garret Sparks midway through the second period.

It was San Jose that opened the scoring, with the lone tally of the opening frame. Forward Timo Meier got a redirect on defenseman Ryan Merkley’s shot from the point, the only puck that beat Quick, for the game’s first goal. The deficit could have been more had it not been for the veteran netminder, however, who turned aside 18 of the 19 shots he faced in his preseason debut.

The Kings flipped the script in the second period with three goals in the middle stanza, with defenseman Jordan Spence opening his account 5:40 into the frame. After an Aidan Dudas offensive-zone faceoff win, Spence fired home from the top of the right-hand circle to tie the game at one, the first goal of his NHL preseason career.

With the teams playing 4-on-4 hockey late in the second period, the Kings scored two goals in less than 30 seconds to take a 3-1 lead into the intermission. First, defenseman Kale Clague fired home on the glove side, off a feed from Vladimir Tkachev, to put the visitors ahead. 28 seconds later, Austin Wagner turned on the jets down the right wing, got a step on his defenseman and beat San Jose netminder James Reimer for the goal, his first of the preseason.

The Kings made it 4-1 early in the third period, as forward Lias Andersson converted on the man advantage, following up on an Alex Iafallo rebound, to extend the visitors’ advantage to three.

The Sharks pulled a goal back just a few minutes later, converting an even-strength goal just one second after a Kings penalty had expired. Defenseman Brent Burns was the San Jose goalscorer, off of a primary assist from rookie forward William Eklund. Forward Tomas Hertl pulled back another late, inside the final minute of regulation, but the Kings held on for the 4-3 victory, their first of the preseason.

Hear from Head Coach Todd McLellan from after the game.

On how the team settled in after the first period and his takeaways from tonight
I thought we learned a lesson early. We didn’t play aggressively, we played on our heels a little bit, probably too much respect for the lineup that they iced. Once we figured some things out and changed the way our mindset was, we were a pretty good team after that. I’m pleased with the effort again. You can begin to see some separation from players, the upper end, and then the middle and the bottom. Some of that is due to experience and where certain players are in their career, and some of it is performance. That’s what we want, it will help us make decisions moving forward.

On icing a younger group compared to San Jose, and how they answered that challenge
Like I said, I think they looked at lot of the names in the lineup over there and had a little too much respect for them, and San Jose did play very well early in the game. Our group figured it out, went to work and did some things well in the second and the third.

On Jonathan Quick’s performance, in his first game back off of offseason surgery
Very good for him, it’s exciting to see him that sharp, that fast. The game came at him right away and he was tested a lot. He had some difficult saves and I thought he managed the game a little bit for us, that’s where his experience came in, he brought us some whistles when we needed them. I’m happy for him and his start.

On giving a group of younger players some NHL experience over the last two games
I think it’s fair that we talk about them as a group, and I think our organization is further along than we were two years ago, when we started. We’ve added to the talent pool. Some of those younger players have minor-league experience, and it shows, some still need more. I think the organization as a whole is a lot deeper than it was in the past and now we’ve got to just continue to develop and grow these young players.

On if he feels it’s easier to get individual takeaways than team takeaways from early exhibition games
I think you can do both. Individual play leads to team structure, so our players picking up team concepts, do they understand what they want to do and how we want to get it done, and do they have the skillset to do it. I think it all goes together.

Notes –

– Defenseman Jordan Spence led the Kings with a goal and a +2 rating, with the Kings controlling 63 percent of shot attempts with Spence on the ice, second to Christian Wolanin amongst LAK defensemen
– Jonathan Quick turned aside 22 of 23 in his preseason debut, including 18 saves on 19 shots in the opening period. The Kings were outshot 19-3 in the first 20 minutes, with Quick keeping it a one-goal game.
– Defensemen Tobias Bjornfot (22:03) and Matt Roy (21:02) led the Kings in time on ice, as the only players to surpass 20 minutes, while forward Gabe Vilardi (19:20) led all forwards.
– No forward controlled more shot attempts than Alex Iafallo, who was at 80 percent for the game. While the lines switched around throughout the game a bit, Iafallo partnered frequently with Quinton Byfield, who was just below him at 72 percent.
– Forward Jacob Doty totaled 19 penalty minutes in his preseason debut. Doty had a fighting major in the third period.
– One negative tonight for the Kings was in the faceoff dot, with LA winning just 29 percent of faceoffs. Of regular centerman, Vilardi led the Kings at 48 percent (11-of-23).

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow at Toyota Sports Performance Center, beginning at 11:30 AM.