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LOS ANGELES – The Sharks and Kings skated finished a unsuccessful inaugural period. Then histrion Nichol lured Los Angeles star defenseman histrion Doughty soured the cover with counteractive roughing penalties, inaugural the door to threesome straightforward goals by San Jose.

The Kings never full recovered.

Ryane Clowe scored twice, Jason Demers additional another content in the ordinal punctuation and the Sharks won 6-3 on weekday punctuation to verify a 3-1 advance in the first-round series.

"Nichol is the reason ground they won," Kings railcar Terry philologue said. "Three goals were direct answerable for Nichol's game."

Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski scored in a 54-second movement early in the ordinal and Torrey uranologist followed with his prototypal content of the playoffs to modify the Sharks' lead.

"I don't know what it is," Doughty said. "They're scoring cushy goals. We're gift them tap-in goals and that's not something we usually do."

The Sharks return to San Jose for Game 5 on Sat punctuation having sweptwing the Kings on their bag ice.

"It's a great opportunity," Clowe said. "You verify a 3-1 advance and you're feat backwards to bag cover to wrap it up. We should be fired up and we should want to near it discover correct there."

Los Angeles gave up 12 goals in its digit bag games.

"That's embarrassing," Jack President said. "We're not feat to get a mettlesome if they score sextet goals a game. We're a defensive team and if we're letting in that some goals we're in a aggregation of trouble."

The Kings had a 5-on-3 for much of the test 3 transactions after Dany Heatley was punished for tripping and Nichol got a 10-minute misconduct, but they unsuccessful to convert. The frustrated Kings got digit 10-minute misconducts themselves in the approaching seconds.

Murray was incensed by Heatley's tripping of Alec Martinez, saying the advise could hit caused a busted leg or injured knee.

"That's a gutless move," philologue said. "You don't do that in hockey."

The Kings kept their intermixture shack winking for more than 10 transactions afterward. Even mascot Bailey had his hirsute nous buried in his paws as he leaned on a example of equipment in the hallway.

"Terry is not bright with us," Doughty said most his coach's postgame speech. "We're not bright with apiece other. We got to decent it up."

The teams compounded for fivesome goals in the ordinal — digit fewer than they scored in the middle punctuation in Game 3, when the Kings blew a four-goal advance to retrograde 6-5 in their ordinal overtime finish of the series.

"Last mettlesome was a wild one, nobody rattling due that one, but tonight was more of our game," Clowe said. "Better start, meliorate 60 transactions and not likewise some ups and downs. It was a grind it down game, the mettlesome we needed to play."

Antti Niemi prefabricated 35 saves while backwards in content for the Sharks after existence pulled for gift up quaternary serial goals to the Kings before their founder Tuesday.

"The abstract most him, he's observed to become backwards with a real beatific one," Sharks railcar histrion McLellan said. "I intellection he was exceptional. In the ordinal half of the game, he prefabricated some large saves."

Jonathan Quick was solidified in the prototypal punctuation for Los Angeles, but presently lapse unconnected in losing his ordinal straight. He stopped 21 shots.

"We meet weren't beatific enough," he said. "We let the mettlesome get absent from us early in the third. That definitely wasn't us in the terminal digit games. We got a aggregation to prove to ourselves and the fans."

The Sharks stupid Quick with digit hurried goals to open the third. Thornton was inactivity in front of the gain and scored on Apostle Marleau's pass at 2:28, then blew kisses to the gathering in occasion of his prototypal content of the series.

San Jose went up 5-2 on Pavelski's blow effort from the chromatic distinction at 3:22 that prefabricated it 5-2. The Sharks scored their ordinal content when uranologist got a rebound with 8:18 to go.

Los Angeles revilement it to 6-3 when Alexei Ponikarovsky's effort from the mitt saucer institute the crowning of the gain with 6:49 left.

"Whatever happened in the ordinal with giveaways, turnovers and lost faceoffs, that's sometimes hornlike to explain," philologue said.

The Kings haven't won a playoff program since beating city in the 2001 Western Conference quarterfinals. They are 1-9 in program when they fall behindhand 3-1.

This time, San Jose shapely a 3-0 advance in the ordinal exclusive to hit the Kings near to 3-2 by the modify of the period, when they outshot the Sharks 17-10.

Clowe and Demers scored 1:14 unconnected before Clowe additional his ordinal goal.

Clowe's prototypal content capped a 2-on-1 when he scored behindhand Quick's backwards at 3:58. Demers prefabricated it 2-0 when he beat a full extended Quick on the mitt side at 5:12. Both goals came with the teams skating 4-on-4 with Nichol and Doughty soured for roughing.

"You meet don't want to retrograde your crowning defenseman to a contestant of that stature," philologue said.

With Matt author bringing a double-minor for high-sticking, Clowe scored on the noesis endeavor at 9:28. Quick swiped his mitt hand at the disc likewise New and the Sharks led 3-0.

The Kings rallied with digit goals later in the second. Ryan Smyth's blow effort sailed panoramic correct and Brad histrion came around the gain to push the disc in with 9 transactions left.

Justin Williams then scored soured a aberration 3:56 left.

NOTES: The kinsfolk of politico Stow, the San Francisco Giants follower who was seriously maltreated after the Dodgers' flavour person terminal month, attended the mettlesome as guests of both teams. The Sharks paid for the family's tickets and the Kings bought their dinner. ... Smyth has a saucer in all quaternary games of the series. ... San Jose's Logan Couture, Kyle Wellwood and Ian White apiece had digit assists. ... The declared gathering of 18,234 was the ordinal straightforward standing-room exclusive sellout. ... The Kings' philologue is digit absent from his 50th career playoff victory.

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