FINAL – Kings 5, Sharks 2 – Arvidsson, Anderson-Dolan, McLellan

The LA Kings snapped a three-game losing streak as they skated to a 5-2 victory in San Jose on Friday evening at SAP Center.

Forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Viktor Arvidsson led the way with a goal and an assist each, while goaltender Jonathan Quick made 25 saves on 27 shots to earn the victory between the pipes.

After having a goal disallowed within the opening 60 seconds, the Kings still picked up the game’s first lead, coming just under nine minutes into the game. Off the rush, forward Blake Lizotte dropped the puck to Anderson-Dolan, who snapped his shot home on the near side to open the scoring with his first goal of the season.

San Jose bounced back, however, to tie the game at one just over four minutes later. Off a cycle in the offensive zone, forward Timo Meier’s pass into the slot hit a Kings skate and fell right to the stick of forward Kevin Labanc, and the New York native snapped a shot over Jonathan Quick on the glove side to even the score at one.

The Kings took the lead heading into the first intermission, however, as they scored a power-play goal late in the first period to take a 2-1 lead. Skating against the NHL’s top-ranked penalty kill unit, Arvidsson set the puck up on a tee for a charging Danault, who wired the shot first time past San Jose netminder James Reimer to put the visitors ahead through 20 minutes.

Arvidsson then made it a multi-point night less than five minutes into the second period. With the Kings in between lines, forward Kevin Fiala fed Arvidsson through the neutral zone with a hard pass, gaining the offensive zone. Arvidsson dragged and fired the puck from the right-hand circle, with his shot sneaking between the legs of Reimer for his fourth goal of the season.

The Sharks pulled one back inside the final minute of the second period, however, to move within 3-2 at the intermission. Defenseman Sean Durzi lost control of a clearing attempt that fell right to forward Ivan Barbanov, who slotted five hole on Quick from in close to get San Jose’s second of the evening.

Early in the third period, the Kings capitalized again through the five hole, as the fourth line struck for the second time in the game. Off the rush, Anderson-Dolan fed Kupari down the left side, with the Finnish centerman firing between the wickets on Reimer for his second goal of the season. Anderson-Dolan picked up his second point of the game with the primary helper.

With less than three minutes to play in regulation, forward Anze Kopitar iced the game with an empty-net goal, his fourth of the season.

Hear from Arvidsson, Anderson-Dolan and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Viktor Arvidsson

Arvidsson caught up with @CarrlynBathe postgame & spoke on tonight's W 🔊#GoKingsGo | @LAKings pic.twitter.com/S3STzWwSO9

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) November 26, 2022

Jaret Anderson-Dolan
On the play of his line tonight and what he felt was going well
I’m not really sure, I think we were all just really working, doing the little things right and it was paying off. It turned into opportunities and we capitalized on a couple of them.

On getting the reward tonight for doing the little things well
Yeah, for sure. It’s kind of always been my focus. I think if you’re taking care of that, the rest will kind of take care of itself and it did tonight and it helped contribute to a win which is the most important thing.

On blocking shots and helping to spark the team in that way
I mean, everyone does that, it’s different guy every night. So when it’s your turn, you just try to step up and get in the lane.

Todd McLellan
On if he felt tonight was a “good road game”
It was a good recovery game. Obviously we weren’t pleased with the way things ended up against the Rangers. We had a couple of days to work on some things but it was a good road game. When that happens, usually all four lines are involved, all six defenseman, goaltending was solid. So team win.

On the play of Anderson-Dolan and the fourth line tonight
I couldn’t be happier for that group. That line played their best game of the season together. They were firm, they were hard, they won a lot of puck battles. Arty Kaliyev was physical, he stripped a lot of pucks, fed those players. Kup won faceoffs, JAD obviously worked his butt off and and scored. Many elements that are needed for success as a line, I think we saw that constantly from those three. They should all feel really good about themselves and should be prepared to do it again on Sunday.

On getting a PPG and winning the special-teams battle
It’s big, they rely on their penalty kill. They’re very good at it and they believe in it. First one didn’t go quite as well. The second one though, we moved the puck around real good, hit the post and then scored, so that gives us a big mental boost because we haven’t had a lot of success against them and we were able to carry that through the night.

On if the timing of the second goal allowed helped the group to “reset” at intermission
It did, I thought we were doing a lot of good things in the second period, though. It’d be different if we gave that up and we’re just holding on. I thought we were doing good things, we had a chance to talk about it between periods but I sensed that was washed out of the system by the time we were walking back out. It’s a good sign.

Notes –
– Jaret Anderson-Dolan (1-1-2) scored his first goal of the season as a part of his fourth career multi-point game, his first since March 17, 2021 vs. St. Louis (0-2-2). Anderson-Dolan also established a new single-game, career-high six shots on goal.
– Viktor Arvidsson (1-1-2) registered his fourth multi-point game of the season. His second period goal was credited as the game-winning goal, the 29th of his career.
– Forwards Phillip Danault (7), Rasmus Kupari (2) and Anze Kopitar (4) also scored in the victory.
– Defenseman Sean Durzi picked up his first multi-assist game of the season with two helpers in the victory.
– Forward Blake Lizotte appeared in his 200th career NHL game tonight, as he became the 45th active, undrafted skater to reach such mark. Lizotte also tallied an assist in the victory.
Phillip Danault (1-0=1) notched his first power-play goal of the season.
– Jonathan Quick stopped 29 of 31 shots for his seventh win on the season and 19th of his career against the San Jose, tying Mike Vernon for the fourth-most wins by a goaltender against San Jose in NHL history. Tonight’s win moves Quick three wins shy of tying Tom Barrasso (369) for the third-most wins by a U.S.-born goaltender in league history.

The Kings have a scheduled team off day tomorrow and will return to the ice for morning skate on Sunday, November 27 at 10:30 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.