LOS ANGELES – The Sharks and Kings skated through a scoreless opening period. Then Scott Nichol lured Los Angeles star defenseman Drew Doughty off the ice with offsetting roughing penalties, opening the door to three straight goals by San Jose.
The Kings never fully recovered.
Ryane Clowe scored twice, Jason Demers added another goal in the second period and the Sharks won 6-3 on Thursday night to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
“Nichol is the reason why they won,” Kings coach Terry Murray said. “Three goals were directly responsible for Nichol’s game.”
Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski scored in a 54-second span early in the third and Torrey Mitchell followed with his first goal of the playoffs to extend the Sharks’ lead.
“I don’t know what it is,” Doughty said. “They’re scoring easy goals. We’re giving them tap-in goals and that’s not something we usually do.”
The Sharks return to San Jose for Game 5 on Saturday night having swept the Kings on their home ice.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Clowe said. “You take a 3-1 lead and you’re going back to home ice to wrap it up. We should be fired up and we should want to close it out right there.”
Los Angeles
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