Kings can’t get past Sharks

Patrick Marleau scored his 33rd goal, Joe Thornton had two assists and the San Jose Sharks earned their NHL-best 25th home victory, 4-2 over the Kings on Thursday night.

Lukas Kaspar, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Milan Michalek also scored for the Sharks, who maintained their Western Conference lead over Detroit with their second straight win at the Tank after a 1-1-3 trip.

Evgeni Nabokov made 30 saves in his 30th victory of the season, and Claude Lemieux got his first NHL point in 2,174 days for San Jose.

Michal Handzus and Alexander Frolov scored for the Kings, who lost on the road for just the second time in their last nine games.

The Kings lost in regulation for just the third time in a month and lost for the third straight time in San Jose.

Longtime Kings defenseman Rob Blake had two assists for the Sharks, who improved the NHL’s best home record to 25-2-3 by holding the Kings scoreless over the final 36 minutes.

Nabokov is second in the league in victories, trailing only Calgary workhorse Miikka Kiprusoff, despite missing nearly three weeks with a lower-body injury in November.

Erik Ersberg stopped 36 shots for the Kings, who are 11th in the conference standings, three points behind eighth-place Edmonton.

The Sharks thrived with more balanced scoring and another solid night from Marleau, who has seven goals and three assists in their last six games. The San Jose captain has 33 goals, one shy of his career high.

Marleau scored late in the first period, getting three cracks at the puck while standing unchecked in the crease.

A few minutes after Vlasic’s go-ahead goal, Michalek doubled the Sharks’ lead late in the second period with a one-timer off a pass from behind the net by Joe Pavelski, whose four-game goal-scoring streak ended.