April 17, 2014; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Tomas Hertl (48) scores a goal past Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) during the first period in game one of the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
A pre-game power outage in San Jose didn’t carry over to the Sharks’ play as they dominated the Los Angeles Kings early on and cruised to a 6-3 win to take the lead in the best of 7 series.
The defensively sound Kings looked anything but as Jonathan Quick was chased after allowing 5 goals on 28 shots through 40 minutes before being replaced by Martin Jones for the third period.
Trailing 5-0, the Kings made it respectable with 3 goals in the third period before Brent Burns iced it with an empty netter.
San Jose got to Quick physically as well as on the scoreboard, as Sharks forward Mike Brown shoved defenseman Slava Voynov into his own goalkeeper, creating quite a collision and drawing a crowd of Kings who didn’t appreciate the tactic.
Joe Thornton, Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau scored in the first with Raffi Torres and Marc-Edouard Vlasic adding to the lead in the second for the Sharks, and they coasted home from there.
Los Angeles responded in the third with Jake Muzzin, Voynov and Trevor Lewis finally getting them in the game, but it was too little, too late on this night.
The game nearly had to be delayed as a power outage inside the arena before the pre-game warmup threatened to postpone the game. The teams warmed up without the traditional music and entertainment package that is customary. Fortunately the game started on time, well at least fortunate for the Sharks.
The Kings looked delayed for most of the night, and will try to get of to a better start in game 2 on Sunday night.