LOS ANGELES (AP)Trevor Moore scored the shootout winner for the second straight game, giving the Los Angeles Kings a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.
Phillip Danault had a power-play goal and Jaret Anderson-Dolan also scored in regulation as the Kings won consecutive games for the first time since the end of their four-game win streak on Nov. 12 Pheonix Copley made 23 saves and had an assist, getting his fourth win in five games since he was called up to Los Angeles.
”I think we were consistent, stuck with it the whole time,” Moore said. ”Shootout wins are shootout wins, and we’ll take ’em.”
Timo Meier had a goal and an assist, and Kevin Labanc also scored for the Sharks, who failed to get their first three-game winning streak of the season. James Reimer had 39 saves.
”I thought we played OK,” Meier said. ”Wasn’t our best game, but obviously frustrating when you have to go to penalty shots and lose it like that.”
Moore won it in the fourth round of the tiebreaker after Kevin Fiala and Labanc each made their tries in the third. Moore also had the decisive look in a seven-round shootout at Boston on Thursday, leading McLellan to crack a joke when asked if he considered using Moore earlier.
”He seems to do really well at that four or five spot, so why mess with success?” McLellan deadpanned.
It was tied 2-all after two periods, with Anderson-Dolan scoring 50 seconds after Labanc put the Sharks ahead with 4:34 to go.
Meier drew the attention of two Kings off the rush before finding Labanc alone in the slot for his seventh goal off a ferocious one-timer.
But Anderson-Dolan got his second goal and third point in two games against San Jose this season, putting in a rebound from the slot.
”The shift after a goal for or against is always huge for momentum, and to respond like that was obviously good to get the momentum even keel right after,” he said.
Both teams traded power-play goals in the first period.
Danault got the Kings on the board 5:54 into the game, building up a speed from the neutral zone to get behind three Sharks penalty-killers before beating Reimer with a backhand.
Meier tied it up with 6:37 left in the period. Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson couldn’t clear Logan Couture’s pass through the paint, giving Meier an easy tap-in at the post for his 15th goal.
Meier drew a penalty early in overtime, but Los Angeles was effective on the penalty kill, with Couture’s shot from the high slot that Copley saw all the way and allowed to hit the outside of the post marking San Jose’s best look.
”They gave us a chance to stay in the game,” McLellan said.
Reimer came up big with saves to deny Jordan Spence with 32 seconds to go and Danault with less than 2 seconds remaining, with both shots from close range.
”It’s good to see him being back to the goalie we know he’s capable of being after being hurt, so it was a good night for him,” Sharks coach David Quinn said.
WELCOME ABOARD
Copley has allowed two goals in all four of his wins, offering a degree of stability that had been lacking from veteran Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen, who was put on waivers and sent to the AHL after clearing them at the start of December.
”He’s made some really big saves, he’s made some simple easy saves. Obviously, in the shootout, he’s had success back-to-back nights,” McLellan said of Copley. ”Right now, he’s running hot, and we’ll likely keep going there.”
WORTH NOTING
Sharks D Erik Karlsson had an assist for the sixth straight game. … Copley got his second career assist on Danault’s goal. His first came with Washington at Arizona on Dec. 6, 2018.
UP NEXT
Sharks: Host Calgary on Sunday night.
Kings: Host Anaheim on Tuesday night.
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