Santa Clara, California: Marian Gaborik scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, and the Los Angeles Kings spoiled San Jose’s outdoor party with a 2-1 victory over the Sharks on Saturday night.
Kyle Clifford also scored and Jonathan Quick made 31 saves as the Kings won their seventh straight game and dealt more heartbreak to their Northern California rivals after knocking San Jose out of the playoffs the past two seasons.
Gaborik silenced an enthusiastic crowd of 70,205 just over 4 minutes into the third period when he took the puck away from Brent Burns in the neutral zone and skated in before beating Antti Niemi with a shot from the top of the circle.
The Sharks were unable to get the equalizer against Quick.
Burns scored the lone goal for the Sharks, who have lost six of eight games to put their 10-season streak of playoff appearances in jeopardy. Niemi made 27 saves.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the lone goal in a shootout, Braden Holtby had 30 saves, and Washington beat the New York Islanders for their fourth straight victory.
After the first-place Islanders forced overtime by scoring with goalie Chad Johnson on the bench, Kuznetsov followed OT by beating Johnson on the first attempt of the shootout. Holtby subsequently denied all three New York attempts, the last by Ryan Strome.
The Islanders were 12-1 in games decided after regulation, including 7-1 in shootouts.
Eric Fehr put the Capitals up 2-1 at 14:26 of the third period. Matt Niskanen also scored for Washington, and Nickas Backstrom had an assist for his NHL-leading 64th point.
Strome put in a rebound from the left circle at 19:12 of the third period to tie it. Travis Hamonic scored early for the Islanders. The teams split four games this season.
