Kings’ Tie Feels Like a Victory

The Kings’ 4-4 tie with San Jose on Saturday was a microcosm of their season.

They mixed grit, resilience and dashes of skill to overcome deficits of 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 with an injury-depleted lineup.

Hurt by occasionally wobbly goaltending from Cristobal Huet, they were boosted by a couple of clutch saves from the French-born netminder, including a pad save on an overtime breakaway by Vincent Damphousse.

Feisty Sean Avery scored the tying goal, at 9:10 of the third period on a wraparound, and underproducing center Jozef Stumpel contributed a goal and an assist to earn cheers from the hard-to-please crowd of 18,743, the largest to see a hockey game at Staples Center and Southern California.

Ziggy Palffy scored a short-handed goal as the Kings, who had been flattened by the Sharks on Friday in a 5-0 loss at San Jose, regained their self-respect.

“I still don’t think we played a great game,” Avery said. “But considering I don’t think the officiating was great, we did OK. We battled. We’ll take the point and realize we’ve got a pretty good rivalry going with the other California team.”

The Kings and Sharks each have 40 points, but the Kings retained their six-week hold on first in the Pacific Division because they have more wins, 16 to 13. However, they have one victory in their last seven games and thought they should have had another Saturday.

They contended the Sharks’ fourth goal, scored by Damphousse at 1:07 of the third period, didn’t fully cross the goal line. It was ruled a goal by referee Jay Sharrers, but according to King General Manager Dave Taylor, replays seen by video goal judge Craig Becker were inconclusive, as were replays viewed in Toronto by NHL Vice President Mike Murphy. The goal stood.

Sharrers “is a referee that has a history of controversy,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “It’s unfortunate tonight with the passionate effort we had.

“I really like their team. We just disagree with some of the decisions made” by the officials.

Among them were penalties against Avery and Jason Holland that gave the Sharks a five-on-three advantage early in the first period, an opportunity they capitalized on when Damphousse tapped in the rebound of a shot by Brad Stuart. San Jose padded its lead to 2-0 at 11:52 on a nifty semi-break by Marleau set up by Damphousse’s long lead pass.

Palffy cut the Kings’ deficit to 2-1 at 2:34 of the second period with his third short-handed goal of the season. Stumpel made it possible with a pinpoint pass, pivoting in the left circle in his own zone and finding a streaking Palffy, who completed the play by slipping a backhander between Evgeni Nabokov’s leg pads for his 15th goal.

“How good was Ziggy Palffy?” Murray asked, rhetorically.

The Kings tied it at 2-2 at 4:52 of the second period. Trent Klatt won a battle along the boards and got the puck to Alexander Frolov, who threw the puck across the slot to Eric Belanger. The pass was in Belanger’s skates, but he got enough of it on his stick to nudge it in for his eighth goal. “We battled hard, and I thought everybody played good tonight,” Belanger said.

The Sharks went ahead, 3-2, at 9:06 after a turnover by Jaroslav Modry. Todd Harvey finished it off with a wrist shot from the right circle that Huet appeared to misjudge. However, the Kings pulled even by turning an innocuous play into a goal. Tim Gleason’s intended shot from the point skidded harmlessly behind the net, but Luc Robitaille pounced on it and flicked a skillful backhanded pass to an onrushing Stumpel, who poked it past Nabokov at 17:41 for his second goal of the season and first since Oct. 15.

The Sharks surged ahead, 4-3, on Damphousse’s power-play goal. His shot from the right circle struck the inside of Huet’s left wrist and behind the goalie, though it was impossible to tell whether it rolled completely over the goal line.

“This should be two points for us,” Robitaille said. “It’s kind of frustrating. We worked hard tonight and seemed not to get too many calls our way. Everybody came back to work tonight.”

Especially Avery. From a tough angle and with the puck bouncing on the chopped-up ice around the net, he tucked the final goal inside the right post after a giveaway by Nabokov. “A Ziggy kind of goal,” Murray called it, and perhaps there was no greater praise to be had.