Kings Hone Two-Man Game

It wasn’t pretty, nor was it easy, but don’t expect the Kings to give back the two points they earned Monday night with a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks at Staples Center.

Derek Armstrong, Ziggy Palffy and Alexander Frolov scored goals for the Kings, who finished the game by stopping a San Jose power play that became a two-man advantage when the Sharks pulled goaltender Evgeni Nabokov with 1:16 remaining.

“We worked hard tonight and battled,” said goaltender Jamie Storr, who made 24 saves to help lead the Kings to their sixth win in eight games. “When you give yourself an opportunity to win, that’s all we can ask for. We can’t worry about outside circumstances and we can’t worry about what the other teams are doing. All we can take care of is our own preparation.”

The Kings did that well enough to gain ground in the Western Conference standings. The victory in front of an announced crowd of 16,301 moved Los Angeles within six points of Edmonton for the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference.

After a scoreless first period, the Kings fell behind when Marco Sturm scored for the Sharks 10 minutes 11 seconds into the second. Sturm skated around the Kings’ Jaroslav Modry and knocked in his own rebound.

The Kings tied the score, 1-1, later in the period when Armstrong tried to sneak a pass to Palffy only to get a lucky bounce when the puck ricocheted off the Sharks’ Kyle McLaren and into the net at 13:39.

It was all about Palffy for the Kings in the third period. Palffy, who’s been playing his best hockey of the season over the last month, earned a penalty shot opportunity when San Jose’s Matt Bradley dragged him down on a breakaway. On his penalty attempt, Palffy tried to shoot the puck between the legs of Nabokov, but the San Jose goaltender guessed right, leaving the score tied and Palffy 0 for 3 on penalty shots in his career.

Palffy, however, made up for his miss minutes later. From a sharp angle outside the right post, Palffy slapped home a rebound shot that beat Nabokov above his left shoulder for his team-high 24th goal, giving the Kings a 2-1 lead at 5:03.

For Palffy, it was just one more highlight goal.

“He’s worth the price of admission now,” Coach Andy Murray said about Palffy, who has seven goals and 14 points over his last nine games. “He’s a threat every time he has the puck. The way he’s competing, the way I’m double shifting him just to get him back out there, he’s just been great.”

San Jose tied the score again when rookie Nicholas Dimitrakos scored his first NHL goal at 8:22 of the third period. The puck slipped into the net after Storr made the initial stop.

That set the stage for Frolov. With the Sharks looking a little tired -- they were playing the final game of a seven-game trip after losing at Dallas on Sunday -- the Kings took advantage with solid puck movement. Eric Belanger made the key pass to Frolov in the slot, and he scored at 13:41 to give the Kings a 3-2 lead.

The Kings appeared to have the game wrapped up until defenseman Aaron Miller was called for interference at 18:14. But the Kings’ penalty killers were up to the challenge of protecting the lead.

“They had a two-man advantage and they were desperate,” captain Mattias Norstrom said of the Sharks, who were 0 for 4 on power-play opportunities (the Kings didn’t play with a man advantage all night). “We knew that they were going to get something, but we did a good job. We eliminated their second chances and their rebound chances.”

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Get Ziggy With It

Ziggy Palffy has a nine-game point scoring streak. A look at the games:

*--* Date Result G A P 1-28 3-1 loss at San Jose 0 1 1 1-30 3-0 win vs. Ottawa 2 0 2 2-5 4-3 win vs. Phoenix 0 1 1 2-7 8-2 win vs. Carolina 1 1 2 2-9 3-1 loss at Dallas 0 1 1 2-11 3-2 win at Nashville 1 0 1 2-13 4-2 win vs. Calgary 1 2 3 2-15 3-2 loss vs. N.Y. Isl 1 1 2 2-17 3-2 win vs. San Jose 1 0 1

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