SAN JOSE, Calif. — Martin Jones faced a barrage of shots from the Los Angeles Kings for the second time in three nights. Once again, he was up to the task.
Jones finished with 42 saves, including 13 in the third period as the Sharks beat the Kings 4-2 on Wednesday to sweep the two-game series with Los Angeles and finish their homestand with a 2-1-1 record.
Brent Burns assisted on both of Evander Kane’s goals and Rudolfs Balcers and Tomas Hertl both added one goal as the Sharks maintained their slim postseason hopes, moving seven points back of the idle St. Louis Blues for fourth place in the West Division.
Sharks captain Logan Couture was injured with 2:55 left in the third period, as he was leveled by Kings forward Jeff Carter near center ice. Couture remained on the ice for several moments before he was able to skate off under his own power.
Kane and Hertl scored 82 seconds early in the third period as the Sharks held a 4-1 lead with 18:17 to go in regulation time. Kings forward Adrian Kempe scored at the 4:27 mark of the third period to cut the Sharks’ lead to 4-2, but the Sharks maintained their two-goal lead from there.
Jones stopped 41 of 42 shots on Monday in the Sharks’ 2-1 win over the Kings that snapped a four-game losing skid.
The Sharks scored twice in the second period and held a 2-1 lead going into the third.
Balcers led a rush out of the Sharks’ zone before he passed to Dylan Gambrell in the neutral zone. Balcers then got the puck back, and fed Marcus Sorensen to start a give-and-go. Balcers then went to the net and redirected Sorensen’s pass past Kings goalie Cal Petersen for his third of the season at the 2:14 mark.
The Sharks took a 2-0 lead on another rush, as Burns took a pass from Kevin Labanc and found an open Kane, who fired it past Petersen for his 13th of the season.
Jones had been playing his best hockey of the season in recent days. Starting with his 26-save performance in the Sharks’ 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on March 13, Jones was 2-0-1 in his last three starts as he stopped 100 of 103 shots for a .971 save percentage.
One of Jones’ biggest issues this season had been playing on just one day’s rest.
In seven previous starts this season on one day’s rest, Jones was 1-5-1 with a .834 save percentage. Jones started 12 games last season on one day’s rest and had a .896 save percentage in those games.
Jones came into Wednesday with a 15-5-3 record in 23 career regular-season games against the Kings, holding a 2.26 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. In three games against the Kings this season before this week, Jones was 2-1-0 with a .895 save percentage and 3.44 goals-against average.
