What we learned from the Kings’ 2-1 victory over San Jose

A few more takeaways before moving on to Wednesday’s Game 4 here in San Jose. San Jose leads the first-round playoff series, two games to one.

Game 3 = overtime

Yes, the third game of the playoffs in a series between the Kings and the Sharks is bound to head to overtime.

This was the fourth time it has happened in four playoff series between the teams. But it was the first time the Kings have prevailed in a Game 3 overtime against the Sharks.

Drew Doughty, marathon man

That Doughty, the Kings defenseman, had an eye-popping 35-plus minutes of ice time was impressive.

Beyond that, his ice time of 35 minutes and one second was more than five minutes than any other skater. The next highest was Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin, at 29:18.

Kings Coach Darryl Sutter essentially leaned on four defensemen, handing out more limited ice time to the likes of Jamie McBain (5:42) and Brayden McNabb (10:30).

Pearson’s opportunistic ways

Youngster Tanner Pearson has a way of delivering in key moments.

Of his 15 goals in the regular season, four were game-winners. Two of those were in overtime and now the Kings’ left wing had his first playoff game-winning goal with Monday’s effort, at 3:47 of overtime.

Pearson’s high hockey IQ -- his awareness of time and space -- is especially evident in overtime.

“Brownie [Dustin Brown] made a nice hit at the blue line, turned the puck over to me,” said Pearson. “I knew Vinny [Lecavalier] was with me but I didn’t want to risk forcing a pass across and turning it over. I just wanted to get it on net.”

Kopitar’s big Game 3

Kings center Anze Kopitar finally scored in this playoff series, on the power play, and his penalty-killing skills were called upon in a big way.

Kopitar played nearly 24 minutes, and five minutes of that was shorthanded. Additionally, he won 17 of 26 faceoffs. Kopitar was forced to defend without a stick, after he broke it, on one penalty-killing effort in the third period.

“To be quite honest I wasn’t all that tired,” Kopitar said. “Without a stick, all you can do is stand in the middle of the ice. The guy is literally three feet from me, playing with the puck right in front of you and you can’t do a thing except stare at it.

“I was just trying to make sure they didn’t get a clean shot, so they shoot it around me. Carts [Jeff Carter] was underneath me, trying to take away anything cross-ice.”