Pacific No Place for Kings, Especially Against Sharks

Many in the crowd lost their hats and Owen Nolan lost his head, but the Kings were the big losers Saturday night.

Nolan had two goals for the Sharks in a 6-3 victory that reminded the Kings of their Achilles’ heel in the Western Conference playoff race.

They are only 5-11-1-3 against the Pacific Division, and it’s a flaw that must be addressed with the playoffs looming.

The loss punctuated a King trip that ended with a 4-3 record, and the length of that sojourn was a contributing factor. They were missing winger Ziggy Palffy because of back spasms and defenseman Garry Galley because of a neck strain, and the rest of the Kings seemed to be skating in cement much of the evening.

They also suffered a breakdown in discipline that had them getting much of their rest in the penalty box. “It’s an old story with us,” defenseman Sean O’Donnell said. “We shot ourselves in the foot. We killed two penalties and gave up a goal on the third. It wasn’t that the first two were any better than the third, we just gave up a goal.”

That was scored by Todd Harvey at 16:59, and was countered by goals from the Kings’ Jaroslav Modry and Jozef Stumpel early in the second period.

“We’re up, 2-1, and we’re on the power play and Jason Blake gets called for contact with the goaltender,” Coach Andy Murray said. “You know, I think everybody in the arena saw the replay and scratched their heads. They score on the four-on-four and all of a sudden, it’s a 2-2 game.”

That goal came from Nolan, as did another at 9:32 of the second for a 3-2 San Jose lead.

The Sharks never trailed after that, and Nolan--who has five goals in as many games against the Kings this season--was laughing at the idea of No. 6 when O’Donnell kicked the puck past goalie Jamie Storr and into the net to make it 4-2.

O’Donnell was stickless at the time.

“I had broken my stick in the corner, and I was trying to keep Nolan away,” he said. “I was trying to kick the puck behind the goal.”

Instead, he kicked it past Storr, and because Nolan was in the neighborhood, many of the announced 17,483 figured he had scored and launched head gear iceward.

The ritual was premature.

“I started laughing because I knew ‘Reech’ scored,” he said of the goal that was awarded to Mike Ricci. “I saw the caps coming down. A lot of fans lost their hats for no reason.”

Less than 40 seconds later, with less than 10 seconds remaining in the period, Nolan was again hanging around the King net and, after Storr had created a clock stoppage by holding the puck, engaged in a push-and-shove with the Kings’ Marko Tuomainen, which O’Donnell opted to join.

He and Nolan exchanged words and Nolan punched O’Donnell with a gloved right hand. When it was sorted out, he and O’Donnell were tossed from the ice for two minutes for roughing, as was Ricci.

The ensuing King power play, 1:50 of which carried into the third period, was enhanced when Vincent Damphousse joined his teammates in the penalty box, creating a five-on-three Kings’ advantage.

They tested Shark goalie Steve Shields four times, and a shot by Glen Murray came from stick range. Each time Shields rejected their efforts.

The Kings were spent.

“That was key,” King defenseman Rob Blake said. “They had a five-on-three [when Jason Blake and Modry were off the ice] and scored near the end of the second penalty. We had a five-on-three and couldn’t score.

“Shields came up huge.”

San Jose added Damphousse’s goal at 5:27, countered by Murray’s consolation prize at 9:52. The Sharks’ Ronnie Stern finished things with an empty-net goal with five seconds to play.

The Kings headed home with Andy Murray pointing out the positive things that happened on the trip, such as their winning games in each of the four time zones and improving their position in the Western Conference standings.

But the problem remains with the Pacific, and until the Kings deal with it their playoff situation remains tenuous.