The San Jose Sharks will not lack for energy when they play for the second consecutive night Tuesday, this time against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.
The Sharks responded to nine straight losses (0-7-2) by pulling off their first victory of the season on Monday. They scored three goals in the final 4:32 of regulation to force overtime and got the game winner from Alexander Wennberg at 1:26 of the extra period in a 5-4 win over the Utah Hockey Club.
San Jose entered as the first team to lose its first nine games in back-to-back seasons. Now, the Sharks appear confident after coach Ryan Warsofsky earned his first NHL win.
“We’ve been working hard but haven’t found a way,” Wennberg said on the NBC Sports California broadcast. “We talk about never giving up. We keep fighting and keep fighting, and we had the celebration, but we really earned the win.”
With all hope seemingly lost again, San Jose saw Fabian Zetterlund score his second goal of the game at 15:28 of the third period to trim Utah’s lead to 4-2. Mikael Granlund scored 25 seconds later to create a one-goal game, and Tyler Toffoli tied it with 2:42 remaining.
“I think we’ve believed in ourselves this whole time, and it’s been frustrating at times, but at the end of the day, it’s only one win and we have to build off it,” Toffoli said. “We have to get better, keep grinding, keep working and keep having fun.”
Toffoli, who played his first eight seasons with the Kings, is second on the Sharks with nine points (team high-tying five goals), while Granlund leads with 13 points (five goals) after adding two assists Monday.
The new-look Kings are in the same place as they were at this point last season at 5-2-2 through nine games. Yet there is a sense of progress as they head out for the only road game in a current stretch of five contests.
After Todd McLellan was fired as coach early in February, Jim Hiller took over and implemented a greater attention to detail on defense this season.
In a 3-2 home victory over Utah on Saturday, all three Kings goals were scored by defenseman — including two from Joel Edmundson. Defenseman Brandt Clarke also had a goal and an assist.
“You’ve got to shoot to score, but I think what we’ve done better this year — it’s something (we) talked about in the press conference when I was hired — was we need to get a little dirtier around their net,” Hiller said.
To stress the importance of being at full strength, Hiller benched left wing Kevin Fiala for the final 24 minutes on Saturday. Fiala’s second penalty of the game came in the second period and allowed Utah to pull within a goal on the power play.
“You can’t take that many penalties, and when you show up (in the penalty box) more than once or twice or three times. Then the coach has to do something,” Hiller said.
Captain Anze Kopitar leads the Kings with nine points (three goals), while Alex Laferriere has a team-leading four goals. Darcy Kuemper returned from a lower-body injury to make 24 saves against Utah.