Los Angeles: Joonas Donskoi’s second goal of the game proved to be the winner as the San Jose Sharks eliminated the Los Angeles Kings from the postseason with a 6-3 win on Friday.
Finland’s Donskoi scored the winner four minutes into the third period for the Sharks, who won the first round Western Conference series four games to one.
The 24-year-old rookie forward took a nifty back pass from teammate Brent Burns in front of the net and easily tapped the puck into the open side as Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick had no chance on the play.
Donskoi now has two pucks for his trophy case which came off goals against Quick. Donskoi scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game in October 2015 against the Kings and Quick.
The Sharks won despite squandering a three-goal lead as they allowed the Kings to score three unanswered goals in the second period.
Donskoi, Chris Tierney and Matt Nieto scored for San Jose before the Kings answered with goals by Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter and Kris Versteeg to make it 3-3 heading into the third period.
After Donskoi scored to make it 4-3, Sharks forward Joe Pavelski got the insurance marker with his fifth goal of the postseason.
Pavelski drove for the net and directed a slow roller through the legs of Quick who allowed five goals in a game for just the third time this season.
Quick has been the Kings’ top player in their Stanley Cup title runs in 2012 and 2014 but he failed to steal any games for them this postseason like he has done in the past.
