The Los Angeles Kings finally got their first win in regulation. Now it’s up to the San Jose Sharks to do the same.
The Sharks will get their next opportunity against the visiting Kings on Tuesday night.
After Los Angeles beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Sunday, the Sharks are the only NHL team without a regulation victory this season.
San Jose is coming off a 6-5 overtime win at the Minnesota Wild on Sunday to cap a four-game road trip. The Sharks blew three two-goal leads before Macklin Celebrini won it in overtime with his sixth goal of the season.
“There’s some things we definitely have to clean up, for sure, especially around our net,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “People get to our net way too easily, so we’ll go back. We’ll look at it again.”
Los Angeles had exceeded regulation in four straight games and six of nine this season before beating the Blackhawks in the fourth game of its five-game road trip.
The Kings were coming off a 5-4 loss to the Nashville Predators in a nine-round shootout on Saturday night.
“Those are two good hockey teams and three of four points on the road, it’s pretty good,” Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson said. “Obviously, we would have liked to win in Nashville, but you can’t win them all. That’s definitely something we’re going to build on, and the trip’s not finished yet. We have to go play San Jose and they’re playing good hockey.”
The Kings added forwards Joel Armia and Corey Perry to the lineup this season, along with veteran defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci, and Edmundson said the new systems have taken some time to learn.
“Our systems, not every team plays it and we’ve got some new guys in the locker room, so it takes time to adjust, but we’ve found our groove now,” Edmundson said. “It’s always nice to get on the road and play some good games.”
The Kings may be without forward Warren Foegele for at least the near future.
He left about five minutes into the game on Sunday with an upper-body injury and didn’t return.
Foegele ranked third on Los Angeles with 24 goals last season.
“He’ll get looked at a little closer (Monday),” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “We’ll probably have an update (Monday), probably the following day, when we’re in San Jose.”
Celebrini, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, scored five of his six goals during the four-game road trip. In addition to his game-winning goal on Sunday, he tallied two assists.
“Yeah, he had a very good road trip,” Sharks forward Tyler Toffoli said. “Led the charge, for sure. Obviously, he’s a huge part of our team and organization. That was another great performance (on Sunday).”
Regarding the team’s overall performance, Toffoli said the Sharks need to improve at holding third-period leads, which would definitely help secure their first regulation win.
“Give up too many opportunities,” Toffoli said of the third period on Sunday. “Backed off and let them forecheck and do what they wanted to do. So, obviously, that’s something we got to figure out.”
