Rapid Recap: San Jose Sharks 3, LA Kings 2 (OT)

The LA Kings dropped their first preseason game in overtime by a score of 3-2 in San Jose against the rival Sharks.

With Sunday being the first of back-to-back games, the Kings iced a lineup absent several veteran stars:

Preseason Game 1 Kings line rushes:

Andersson — Byfield — Kaliyev
Pinelli — Tynan — Chromiak
Grundstrom — Thomas — Madden
Lemieux — Lizotte — Ward

Bisson — Roy
Bjornfot — Clarke
Nousiainen — Grans

Quick
Villalta

— Jared Shafran (@ShafReign) September 25, 2022

Jonathan Quick stopped 17 of 18 shots in just over 33 minutes of ice time, while Matt Villalta allowed two goals on 10 shots in his 30 minutes and 22 seconds of time between the pipes.

Luke Kunin‘s goal 6:25 into the first period would be the lone marker in a penalty-filled first two periods.

The two teams combined for 12 penalties in the opening 40 minutes. Despite both teams having plenty of time with the man-advantage, neither power play was able to convert. The Sharks went 0-for-6 in the first two periods (0-for-7 on the night). LA struggled to the tune of 0-for-7 in the first two periods (0-for-8 on the night).

In the third period, the fourth line of Carl Grundstrom, Blake Lizotte, and Brendan Lemieux struck twice – each time providing the game-tying goal. First, it was Grundstrom less than a minute into the third period, and then Lizotte with less than three minutes to play.

Speaking of that fourth line, they were one of the noteworthy trios:

It's the first game of the preseason and everyone will have different takeaways.

But, seeing what could be the fourth line of Lemieux/Lizotte/Grundstrom score twice while controlling more than 70 percent of shot attempts and scoring chances is great in my book.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) September 26, 2022

Timo Meier put the Sharks up 2-1 in the third period and it was Logan Couture who ended it in overtime. Kaapo Kahkonen made 43 saves in net for San Jose.

Overall, the Kings outshot San Jose 45-31.

News & Notes

• Quinton Byfield led all Kings forwards in ice time with 20:33. He had three shots on goal and was 65% in the faceoff dot. He was often used on the power play, and radio color commentator Daryl Evans noted a few times where he had chances in front of the net that just wouldn’t go.
• Brandt Clarke was tied for the lead in ice time with Matt Roy as each played 24:59. For Clarke, he picked up where he left off in the Rookie Faceoff, nabbing another assist while seeing over eight minutes of power play time. Clarke was thrown into the fire in this one as he also saw over four minutes of penalty kill time.
• Akil Thomas saw 16:11 of ice and was involved in the special teams. He saw opportunities on the top power play unit along with Byfield, Clarke, Arthur Kaliyev, and T.J. Tynan. Thomas also had over three minutes of ice time while short-handed.
• Francesco Pinelli and Taylor Ward were the only two LA Kings to play less than 10 minutes. With as much special teams play, though, inevitably, some players will get the short end of the stick.

The LA Kings will play again on Monday night against the Vegas Golden Knights. The game will be shown on the NHL Network.

(Main photo credit: Axs.com)