A San Jose Sharks Blog

In the first period, Mark Bell opened the scoring with a one-timer from the high slot. A speedy Patrick Marleau circled behind the net and found Bell who quickly deposited the puck for his 10th of the season. At 16:15, the Kings tied the score by netting one on the power play. With the two-man advantage, Mike Cammalleri received a pass at the top of the circle, skated in towards the net, and ripped a wicked wrister to the far upper corner pass Evgeni Nabokov.

Three minutes into the second period, the Sharks scored on a power play of their own. Cheechoo planted himself in front of the net and tipped in a shot from the blueline for his 33rd goal of the season. Less than four minutes later, the Sharks extended their lead on a goal scored by Milan Michalek. On the rush, Thornton carried the puck into the Kings' zone. Weaving through traffic, Jumbo Joe found Michalek all alone in front. Patiently, Milan took the pass off of his right skate and beat Sean Burke for his 24th goal of the season. The Sharks did not stop there; at 9:54, Cheechoo scored his second of the afternoon from Craig Rivet and Thornton. With a slapper from the near point, Cheechoo again put the puck pass Los Angeles Kings goalie Sean Burke. Fortunately for Cheech, the shot ricocheted off of a Kings defenseman prior to hitting the back of the net. With less than two minutes left in the second period, Cheechoo scored his 35th goal of the season completing his third hat trick of the year. With Thornton behind the net, Cheechoo skated towards the slot to open up a passing lane. As he often does, Thornton found Cheechoo's tape which led to an easy one-timer into a wide open net.

At 8:49 of the third period, the Kings put a second goal behind Nabokov who had made some spectacular saves earlier in the game. On the play, the Sharks had turned the puck over to Aaron Miller at their own blueline. The Kings defenseman quickly sent the puck up to Alexander Frolov in front of the net who then jammed one past Nabby for his 35th goal of the season. Still up by three goals, the Sharks put the checking line of Curtis Brown, Mike Grier, and Patrick Rissmiller on the power play. The line took advantage of this extra ice time by scoring the Sharks' 6th goal of the night (Rissmiller's 7th on the season, from Grier and Brown).

Again, San Jose kept pace with both the Anaheim Ducks and the Dallas Stars with this win. As it stands, Anaheim leads the Pacific Division with 106 points while Dallas and San Jose both trail by four. Knock on wood, the Sharks seem to be rolling in every aspect of their game...let's hope they run this streak straight in and through the playoffs.