FINAL – Kings 2, Sharks 7 – Kopitar, Hiller

The LA Kings matched their lopsided loss of the season in a 7-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Monday night at the SAP Center.

San Jose opened the scoring just two minutes into the game when forward Nico Sturm converted on a breakaway for the early advantage. Sturm snuck in behind the defensive pairing of Jacob Moverare and Jordan Spence and caught a stretch pass from defender Mario Ferraro. Sturm then went in alone on Kings netminder David Rittich and hit home the first goal of the game, his fourth of the season, for a 1-0 advantage.

The Kings responded early in the second period via defenseman Brandt Clarke, who buried his third goal of the season to tie the score. After a controlled zone entry between forward Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, the latter dropped the puck to Clarke, who came through the slot. The blueliner gathered his forehand and fired a shot into the far post, past San Jose goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, to tie the game at 1-1.

Midway through the middle stanza, the Kings took their first lead of the evening, with Koptiar and Kempe involved again. After Kempe regained control of the offensive zone, he combined with forward Warren Foegele to get the puck into the crease, where Kopitar eventually got the rebound into the net for his team-leading 25th point of the season and a 2-1 lead.

However, the Sharks pushed back when forward Fabian Zetterlund tied the game at two. Zetterlund, skating down the right wing, worked the puck around the Kings net and his wraparound attempt ramped off a Kings skate, over Rittich and in for his ninth goal of the season, giving him the San Jose team lead in goal and match 2-2.

In a disastrous start to the third period, San Jose scored three goals in the first four minutes of play to open up a 5-2 lead.

First, forward Macklin Celebrini scored his first of the game and his fifth of the season when he skated into the left-hand circle off the rush and scored cleanly with a wrist shot to put the hosts back on top. Defenseman Timothy Liljegren then made it 4-2 when his one-timer on a low-to-high passing play connected with beating Rittich through traffic in front. The Kings unsuccessfully challenged for goalie interference on the Liljegren goal, and Celebrini then scored on a one-timer on the ensuing power play to make it 5-2.

After a double-minor was assessed to Kevin Fiala for high-sticking, the Sharks scored just four seconds into the power play, with defenseman Jake Walman entering the game to push the deficit to four goals. Forward Luke Kunin added the team’s seventh goal with less than two minutes left in regulation to put us on a 7-2 final.

Hear from Koptiar and head coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s loss.

Anze Kopitar
On not being able to follow up on a strong home ground with tonight’s game
Yes, I thought we had a good home ground, the team has played well and for more than 40 minutes we were not upset with our game. You go into the third period tied, but you have to make sure you keep it and win a hockey game on the road. It obviously went sideways on us.

On what went wrong at the start of the third period
It just seemed like we weren’t ready to start the period. They got a couple of quick ones and saw the challenge and it took them what, five, seven seconds to score another goal. So it’s hard to start a period like that.

On what the team did not do to dampen the game after the quick goals
It’s hard, it happened fast, so before we knew it we were three down. Yes, there is still a lot of hockey left, but the mind is spinning, so refocusing and getting it going (again) is not the easiest thing to do.

On the number of penalties the team took throughout the match and the need to reduce them
Make sure we don’t take them. I mean, a lot of them were caning, and we can certainly eliminate those.

Jim Hiller
On losing 7-2 after being upbeat coming off a three-game homestand
It was the third period. In the second period we played quite well. I think one thing people need to understand is that you shouldn’t disrespect this team. It’s not a team that tries to fight, it’s a good hockey team, strong players, really good back end. We played them three times, they beat us twice, we narrowly beat them there at home, so I want to give them the respect they deserve first. It was a tough game for 40 minutes, the second period we were good and then we completely fell apart in the third period. It’s just unacceptable what happened in the third. So we can talk about the first 40, but that’s washed away with the third period.

About what happened in the third period
Yes, you need to get better, all of you. It’s not just one guy, it’s not one line, it’s not a defensive pair, it’s not just the goa, it’s the whole crew. It’s a game, 2-2 in a visiting team’s building, you have to come out there and be ready for a game and we weren’t ready to just grind it out and fight it out, obviously.

On the two goals that come in quick succession
It got us on our heels, there’s no doubt. Then we are in the penalty box and the two (goals) got us on our heels, yes.

On what the team should do, to fight back, but was not able to
We needed to get back in the o-zone and make some plays, just try to build some momentum off them, but we didn’t, we were back on our heels straight away. They obviously got some life out of it and we had no pushback from there, which is probably the most disappointing part of the game.

On the cumulative number of penalties, specifically stick violations
We went through that at the beginning of the year. We took too many penalties. The coach doesn’t have many options other than taking ice time away, that’s basically it. We had gotten a handle on it pretty well, we’ve had a pretty good run of not giving up a lot of power plays. Tonight we were careless, but that just goes with our mindset, especially in the third period.

On the team’s decision to challenge the fourth San Jose goal
It was a tough one, yes, it was a tough call. I understand why they didn’t knock it down, we knew it wasn’t a slam dunk that’s for sure. They got a good look at it, it didn’t tip over. We felt at that point in the game that we had to challenge.

Notes –
• Defenseman Brandt Clarke (1-0=1) scored his third goal of the season and set a new single-season career high. With the goal, Clarke extends his point streak against the Sharks to a third game (1-2=3), dating back to October 24, 2024.
• Forward Adrian Kempe (0-2=2) had his 10th and 11th assists of the campaign to become the second Kings skater
to hit the 20 point mark this season. Kempe now has six points (3-3=6) in his last six games against the Sharks dating back to December 27, 2023. Kempe’s two assists marked his 77th career multi-point game for the Kings, tying Jari Kurri . for the 19th most multi-point effort in franchise history.
• Captain Anze Kopitar (1-1=2) picked up his 19th assist of the season and scored his sixth goal of the campaign to reach the 25-point mark for the 19th time in his career. Kopitar becomes the 32nd player in league history to record 19 25-point seasons.
• Kopitar now has 10 points (1-9=10) in his past seven outings dating back to Nov. 9, 2024. His 28 career goals against the Sharks are tied with Corey Perry and Joe Sakic for seventh most in league history, while his 15 career goals against San Jose breaks a tie with Pavel Bure for sole possession of 10th-most in history.
• Kopitar skated in his 699th career road game tonight, fourth-most among all active skaters behind Ryan Suter (726), Alex Ovechkin (725) and Brent Burns (713).
• Tonight’s contest also marked Kopitar’s 1,395. career regular season appearances, tying Roman Hamrlik (1,395) for 44th most games played in NHL history.

The Kings have a scheduled day off tomorrow and will return to the ice for a full-squad morning skate on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in the Toyota Sports Performance Center.