Rookie goalie impresses team

It might have been only a preseason game, but a lot of attention was put on the Kings’ matchup against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night at Staples Center.

That’s because the Kings started rookie goaltender Jonathan Bernier for the first time, and the youngster gave a decent effort in a 6-5 shootout victory.

Bernier, selected by the Kings in the first round (11th overall) of the 2006 draft, has turned heads with his play since he joined the team’s training camp after representing Canada in the under-20 Canada-Russia Super Series.

“I am thankful that we don’t have to make a decision right now,” Kings Coach Marc Crawford said about the Kings’ goaltender battle, which includes Jason LaBarbera, Jean-Sebastien Aubit, Dan Cloutier and now Bernier.

“We started off thinking that we had three goalies [competing for the job], but Bernier has made it difficult.”

Bernier, who did not start but stopped 16 of 17 shots he faced in 29 minutes against the Ducks on Saturday, was sharp early against San Jose. He made a nice pad save on a blue-line shot by San Jose’s Matthew Carle and followed that with a glove save on Milan Michalek in the first period.

But after Derek Armstrong gave the Kings a 1-0 lead with a score on San Jose’s goalie Dimitri Patzold, Bernier gave up a power-play rebound goal to Devin Setoguchi for the Sharks’ first goal.

Bernier was replaced by Cloutier near the midpoint of the second period but before leaving, he gave up a point-blank goal to Torrey Mitchell that gave San Jose a 2-1 lead. Bernier finished with 18 saves in 20 shots.

Cloutier, who won the shootout with a nifty save on Mitchell, gave up three goals in 18 shots.

“He had his moments, where he made a couple of big saves, including the one in the shootout,” Crawford said.

The Kings, who also received goals from Brian Willsie, Kyle Calder, Brady Murray and Dustin Brown, won the shootout on Brown’s score.

After the game, the Kings left for Denver, where they will play Colorado at the Pepsi Center tonight. They will play the Avalanche again on Saturday at the Las Vegas MGM Grand.

Goaltender Sean Burke, who played in 23 games with the Kings last season, has retired after nearly 20 years in the NHL seasons. In his career, Burke played for nine teams and also represented Canada in the 1988 Olympics.

Burke was selected 24th overall in the 1985 draft by New Jersey and played 820 games in his career (12th among goaltenders).

He finished with 324 victories and 38 shutouts.

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lonnie.white@latimes.com