LOS ANGELES_The Los Angeles Kings won't see the Staples Center again this month. Which might not be such a bad thing given the way they've played there this week, losing consecutive games in regulation on the same homestand for the first time this season.
The second one came Wednesday, when the San Jose Sharks rode scores from Brent Burns, Tommy Wingels and Joe Pavelski to a chippy 3-2 victory that saw the teams combine for more than twice as many penalties than goals.
The meeting was the third between the Sharks and Kings in 19 days, closing out the regular-season series between the Pacific Division rivals with three months still left on the schedule.
And Kings goalie Peter Budaj probably won't be sorry to see the Sharks go since he's given more goals to San Jose _ nine _ than to any other team.
Of course, he's also played the Sharks more often, with Wednesday's game marking his fourth start against San Jose _ a familiarity that may have helped the Sharks during first period in which they scored twice.
The first came on a Burns' slap shot from just inside the blue line that struck the stick of Kings' captain Anze Kopitar and deflected into top right corner 3{ minutes after the opening faceoff. The goal was the 19th of the season for Burns, who will back at the Staples Center in 10 days for the All-Star Game.
Wingels' score came less than five minutes before the first intermission when he lifted a soft wrister over the Budaj's shoulder and just under the crossbar on the goalie's glove side.
Those goals were sandwiched around one from the Kings' Tyler Pearson. Positioned on the edge of the crease, Pearson chopped at a long wrister from teammate Derek Forbort and redirected it between the legs of San Jose goalie Martin Jones at 5:46.
San Jose claimed goalie interference but after a video review, the goal stood.
The teams exchanged scores in the second period, with Pavelski taking a rebound off the end board and jamming it past Budaj for a power-play goal just seconds after the Kings' Jeff Carter went to the penalty box for high sticking.
The penalty was one of 12 on the night while the goal, at the midway mark of the period, was Pavelski's 16th of the season. Marian Gaborik answered for the Kings five minutes later, thanks to a big assist from Kyle Clifford. During a scramble in front of the net, Clifford managed to push the puck across the crease and through a crowd of players to Gaborik, who slipped his shot inside the far post.
That was all the Kings would get, however, testing Jones with just five third-period shots to preserve the win, San Jose's fourth in six games.
And with the NHL taking over the Staples Center on Friday to begin setting up for next week's All-Star Game events, the Kings head out that same afternoon for a four-game East Coast road swing _ a trip they're beginning without high-scoring winger Tyler Toffoli.
The Kings had hoped Toffoli, on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury, since Dec. 22, would be back by now but his recovery has been slower than expect and he isn't likely to return the lineup until the Kings return home next month.
