10/29 FINALE – Kings 2, Sharks 4

The Kings lost 4-2 to the Sharks on Tuesday night. In the first half of a back-to-back game, the Kings now travel back to LA to face the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, who failed to pick up any points against the 1-7-2 Sharks.

It wasn't the start the Kings were hoping for as they conceded a penalty in the first minute of the game and then three minutes into the game. Luckily, they swept both Shark Power playoffs and earned two power play games of their own midway through the first 20 minutes. Unfortunately, now that the Kings had the opportunity to spend time at the other end of the ice, they were unable to take advantage of their man advantage and the game went into the first break scoreless.

Two goals were scored in the second period, one for each team, within a minute of each other. At the start of the quarter, the Sharks clearly won an offensive zone duel against defender Jake Walman. When Walman received the puck, he skated across the blue line, got open and fired a slap shot that beat David Rittich on the glove side. The Kings were now down 1-0 and responded quickly 58 seconds later. Akil Thomas was in the squad for the first time this season and he made the most of it. Thomas shot into the net when Brandt Clarke took a shot on goal and took a rebound, scoring his fourth career goal in his eighth career NHL game. With the game tied, the Kings peppered the Sharks with 42 shot attempts in the period but were unable to find the back of the net.

The Sharks took the lead again by one goal in the third period. With 6:25 to play heading into the final 20 minutes, the Kings were caught in attack mode and gave up a 2-on-1 game. There, Fabian Zetterlund beat Rittich with a shot and put the Sharks back in the lead. The Kings again responded quickly, tying the game 2-2 2:27 later. Warren Foegele turned around a Sharks defender below the goal line and fed Alex Laferriere in front of the net, where he fired a snap shot past Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek. Laferrière's goal gave him his team-leading fifth goal of the season. The score was 2-2 just after halftime of the period, but the Kings failed to clear the puck on a breakaway and the Sharks capitalized. Walman, who scored his second straight three-point game, kept the puck in the Kings zone, fed Tyler Toffoli in front of the Kings net and the former King outran Rittich and pushed the puck into the Kings for a 3-2 lead -Net, a lead they would retain this time.

Rittich made his sixth appearance of the season for the Kings and stopped 17 of 20 shots. Rittich is now 3-3-0.

The Kings won't have to wait long to get the taste of loser out of their mouths as they'll be watching the Vegas Golden Knights for the second time in eight days tomorrow, Wednesday at 7pm in LA on TNT.