Martin Jones made 32 saves to stymie Los Angeles again, while Patrick Marleau scored his 566th career goal as the San Jose Sharks beat the Kings 5-2 on Friday.
Kevin Labanc, Rudolfs Balcers and Dylan Gambrell also scored, while Brent Burns had three assists to give San Jose their fifth win in six games.
Tomas Hertl added an empty-net goal.
Photo: AP
The key to the victory was once again Jones. He beat the Kings for the sixth time this season and has a .933 save percentage in seven games against his former team.
He joined Mike Vernon (1997-1998 against Anaheim) as the only Sharks goaltenders to beat one team six times in a season.
“It’s going well,” Jones said. “It’s obviously more fun winning hockey games. The challenge for us as a group is when things are going well to not change anything. When we play a certain way, we’re a tough team to play against.”
Photo: AP
Alex Iafallo and Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored for Los Angeles, while Cal Petersen made 24 saves.
The Kings have lost seven of nine.
“Getting the first goal is a positive,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “We hit the snooze button for a little bit and next thing you know we’re down 3-1. That’s certainly not the recipe for success.”
Marleau scored in back-to-back games for the first time since November 2018 when Burns’ centering pass hit his skate and deflected past Petersen to make it 2-1 in the first.
Marleau played his 1,762nd career game, five shy of tying Gordie Howe’s all-time record.
“Patty has been real good in the last few weeks,” coach Bob Boughner said.
“It’s nice to see him being at the top of his game as he’s approaching that record. He’s in a good spot for us,” Boughner said.
That goal was part of a three-goal first period that Jones made stand up with a stellar second, which included stops on breakaways by Iafallo and Trevor Moore.
Jones did allow a soft goal from a bad angle to Anderson-Dolan early in the third, but the Sharks held on for the win thanks to a short-handed breakaway goal by Gambrell with three minutes remaining.
“Every time we play against this team it’s a long chance, a poor pinch, a poor cover and we chase the game night after night after night,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Blues 9, Wild 1
‧ Golden Knights 7, Coyotes 4
‧ Sabres 3, Capitals 4
‧ Devils 4, Penguins 6
‧ Ducks 0, Avalanche 2
‧ Islanders 1, Rangers 4
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