Los Angeles

LA Kings Lose NHL Opener, 2-1, to Rival Sharks in Playoff Rematch

Brent Burns scored the game-winning goal at the beginning of the third period and the San Jose Sharks squeaked out a 2-1 victory over the rival Los Angeles Kings on NHL Opening Night at the SAP Center in San Jose.

Not a bad opening act.

Brent Burns scored the game-winning goal at the beginning of the third period and the San Jose Sharks squeaked out a 2-1 victory over the rival Los Angeles Kings on NHL Opening Night at the SAP Center in San Jose.

Burns played the role of waste collector as he cleaned up the garbage in front of the net at the start of the third period.

Logan Couture was tangled up with Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin along the boards and he creatively kicked the puck into the open space to Joonas Donskoi who fed Burns in front of the net for the quick one-timer.

Drew Doughty hesitated just enough on the play to miss the block as the puck slid under his chest and to Burns for the game-winner.

The opening game was a rematch of the first round of the 2015-2016 NHL Western Conference Playoffs between the two long-time rivals. The Sharks slayed some demons in that first round series by thwarting their nemesis in five games, advancing all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals where they would eventually lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.

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The Kings opened up the scoring just 1:22 into the first period on a power play from Tyler Toffoli. The forward raced down the right side of the net and sliced a wrist shot just over the left shoulder of former teammate Martin Jones in net.

Jones would buckle down and the Kings would not score again as they were shutout for the remainder of the game.

Couture tied the game a dozen minutes later when he dialed up a wrist shot from deep that slipped past Jonathan Quick in net for the Sharks first power play goal of the season.

The game was overshadowed by a lower-body injury to Quick after the end of the first period. Jeff Zatkoff replaced him in net and did a serviceable job saving 15-of-16 shots in the loss.

Quick made 14 saves in the first period, and could miss quite a it of time according to LA Kings President and General Manager Dean Lombardi.

Jones was stellar in net as usual for the Sharks, stopping 21-of-22 shots in the victory.

Players of the Game:

Brent Burns: Game-winning goal.
Martin Jones: 20 saves
Tyler Toffoli: PP Goal.

Takeaways:

Happy Birthday Bob Miller: LA Kings play-by-play announcer Bob Miller celebrated his 78th birthday on Wednesday. The Hall of Fame broadcaster has been in the booth with the Kings since 1973 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Due to health concerns, Miller will only do LA Kings home games this season and makes his debut at Staples Center in the team's homer opener on Friday.

Up Next:

Kings (0-1): Los Angeles will open up the season at home against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night at 7:30PM PST at Staples Center.

Sharks (1-0): The reigning Western Conference Champions will travel to Columbus for the second game of the season on Saturday.

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