Kings Fail to Move Into Elite Eight

Anxiety over their playoff prospects and mushy ice combined to take the edge off what should have been a nerve-jangling game between the Kings and San Jose Sharks on Monday night at Staples Center.

The Sharks, powerless to stop a late-season slide, and the Kings, unable to climb back into the top eight in the Western Conference, lacked the desperation the situation demanded. Although a crowd of 15,276 tried to create some excitement and momentum for the Kings, the teams played a 0-0 tie.

The Kings, 5-1-3 in their last nine games but 0-1-2 in their last three, are one point behind the eighth-place Phoenix Coyotes. However, the Coyotes have played 76 games, to 75 for the Kings. The Sharks, who led the Pacific Division for much of the season, extended their skid to 1-9-2-2 and stayed seventh in the West, with 84 points.

Shark winger Teemu Selanne had a splendid chance to end the game 47 seconds into overtime when he broke in alone on goaltender Felix Potvin, but the puck was rolling on the soft ice and the former Mighty Duck couldn’t get everything on the shot. It struck the right goal post before bouncing away. He had another chance with 12 seconds left in overtime but shot wide left.

“I know he always goes down,” Selanne said of Potvin. “He was a little out of position at that time. The second time, of course, the ice is bad in overtime, but when you have that kind of chance in overtime. . . . It’s frustrating.”

The shutout was the fifth for Shark goalie Evgeni Nabokov, an impressive rookie from Kazakhstan who made 27 saves. Potvin made 15 saves to earn his fourth shutout and third as a King. He has not given up a goal to the Sharks in 167 minutes 47 seconds spanning three games.

The game was the Kings’ first scoreless tie since Oct. 26, 1996, against the Calgary Flames. It was also the second consecutive game in which the Kings and Sharks were scoreless after regulation time. On March 17, the Kings won, 1-0, on an overtime goal by Bryan Smolinski.

“There were a lot of scoring chances tonight,” King winger Adam Deadmarsh said. “We were so close. But it just wasn’t going in for us. Sometimes, it just doesn’t want to go in the net.”

The Kings had four power plays in the first period but failed to score, while the Sharks failed to capitalize on their lone man advantage, extending to 30 their power-play futility streak. Potvin made six saves in the period to 10 by Nabokov. They faced no sustained pressure, but each was sharp when called upon.

Potvin, criticized in the past for staying too far back in his net, calculated his angles properly in the second period and was quick enough to stop the three shots the Sharks directed at him. He got lucky when Mark Smith put Todd Harvey in alone from the hash marks and Harvey shot wide, but Potvin stood up to make a good save with the right side of his chest on a shot from the left side by defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson.

The Kings had several good short-handed threats, including consecutive efforts by Glen Murray and Jaroslav Modry nearly 12 minutes into the second period while Nelson Emerson served a hooking penalty. However, Nabokov was up to those tests.

Another power play early in the third period, this one created when Shark defenseman Gary Suter was penalized for roughing, gave King fans reason for optimism. They spontaneously began cheering, imploring the Kings to score a goal on their sixth power play of the game, but the fans were disappointed again. The Kings mustered one shot and couldn’t score.

But at the other end, Potvin remained unbeatable. Scott Thornton had a close-in chance about eight minutes into the period and tried to slide the puck in the space between Potvin’s leg pads, but Potvin stopped it with the inside of his left knee.

Nabokov made a sprawling save to stop Ian Laperriere at 11:25 and Emerson was also thwarted on a close-in chance a little more than a minute later. The fans continued to chant and urge their heroes onward, but the Kings couldn’t break through the Sharks’ defense.

“It’s a real dogfight, that’s for sure,” Deadmarsh said. “There are three teams battling hard right now. Every point is going to be critical. We got one point tonight, but we’ve got to start getting two points.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WEST RACE

If the NHL playoffs began today, the Kings (81 points) would not qualify in the Western Conference:

1. Colorado 111

2. Detroit 103

3. Dallas 95

4. St. Louis 98

5. Edmonton 87

6. Vancouver 87

7. San Jose 84

8. Phoenix 82

Note: The top three are division leaders.