Game 50: Kings 3, Sharks 2

• For the Hockeywood Dailies of this game, click here.

We can now fold up the January page of our 2011 Kings calendar and never talk about it. Ever. Again.

Or maybe we should never forget. After all, those dark days of Jammed-uary are a harsh reminder of how bad things can get.

The Kings played their Pacific Division rival and matched them blow-for-blow in a slobberknocker of a game. The Sharks are loaded, that's for sure. But the Kings showed that they have no problem swimming with the Sharks.

Starting in goal for the fifth straight game, Jonathan Quick was extremely sharp, turning away every San Jose charge with relish. More importantly, he was perfect once again in the shootout.

But Quick also benefitted playing behind an energized defensive core. Willie Mitchell and Drew Doughty were paired once again, as was Jack Johnson and Rob Scuderi. Matt Greene was skating with Alec Martinez which I think is great for the youngster. Greene was credited with four blocked shots and added five hits. With the exception of Martinez's sixth spot, those top 5 defensemen in the lineup gives L.A. the best shot for a win.

But the D-Men don't get full credit for the defensive effort. Anze Kopitar has successfully shut down the Sharks' Joe Thornton for the fourth game this season. Kopitar's defensive play is flourishing nicely, and he can step up and make the other team pay as well. Even though he only has 1 goal in January, he set up 8 goals in those 13 games.

Ryan Smyth got things started in the second period for the Kings. But the momentum quickly shifted when the Sharks came right back and struck twice in, wait for it, under a minute to take a 2-1 score into the third period.

Momentum was completely on San Jose's side when Brad Richardson split open Doug Murray's lip and was sent to the penalty box for a 4-minute major. That's when the Kings got serious and really played their hearts out. After repeated Shark attacks (pun probably intended), the Kings PK unit kept any serious shots to the outside.

The loaded San Jose lineup was neutralized by solid defensive play. And at the end of the four minutes, the Kings had only allowed four shots on goal. Keep in mind, this is the top-shooting team in the league, and they were shut down. But the Kings killed off Richardson's penalty and pushed the game into overtime.

There's where the game shifted, and the Kings were in the drivers' seat. After a frenetic five minutes, the game went to a shootout. Anze Kopitar deked Antii Niemi with a Sloevian Stunner, only to be thwarted by the post. Jack Johnson also hit the pipe after clearing beating Niemi. To lose like that would have been unacceptable.

After Dustin Brown's failed attempt, coach Murray called on Jarret Stoll. Stoll was called out by Murray to step up his game earlier in January, and he responded with six goals in January. Stoll skated in and shot one past Niemi to give the Kings the lead, and Quick had an easy time with Patrick Marleau's attempt to win the game.

So now the Kingdom will be closed for February, as the Warrior Kings head out on the road for a brutal ten-game road trip before coming home to play the Wild on Feb. 24. That's a long time to be gone for, but it should do the team some good to get away from L.A. and get into a groove. If they hope to make the playoffs, they'll need to get their road legs under them and improve on their 43.4 winning percent away from Staples.

• AP: Kings beat Sharks 3-2 in shootout

Jonathan Quick made 22 saves and stopped all four San Jose tries in the shootout after backstopping a flawless 4-minute penalty-kill late in regulation. With grit and timely goals, the Kings closed out their lamentable January performance with a win that suggests they might still have a playoff run in them.

• L.A. Times: Kings take Sharks seriously in 3-2 shootout victory

Jarret Stoll finally won it with a well-placed wrist shot that beat San Jose goalie Antti Niemi high on his glove side in the shootout. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick – unbeaten in five shootouts this season — then made a sprawling save on the Sharks' Patrick Marleau to seal the victory. It was the Kings third win in a row, the second-longest streak in the conference, and it leaves them one point shy of a playoff spot.

• LAKings.com: Kings beat Sharks 3-2 in shootout for third win in a row

Anze Kopitar and Johnson hit the post with their attempts, and Couture lost control of the puck as he approached the net, but Stoll beat Antti Niemi cleanly with a wrist shot in the fourth round and Quick made the save on Marleau’s wrist shot to end the shootout.

• Mercury News: Sharks fall to Kings in shootout, ending four-game winning streak

In particular, the Sharks could point to their failure to score on a four-minute power play after Kings center Brad Richardson drew blood when he clipped Douglas Murray with a high stick with 6:41 remaining.

They said it

“Yeah. we really hung in there. It was a pretty long (shift) and when you have those guys in the zone like that, you just have to stick there because you have to try and out-battle them, basically, and put the puck in the net. You basically wear them down and they all were tired at the end of the shift, but we were lucky to just battle and put it in.” – Alexei Ponikarovsky, on his first goal at Staples.

“It was everything. It was the game. That was the difference between pretty much getting into overtime and getting a point, or zero points. Four minutes is a long time to kill (against) the San Jose Sharks. They have a lot of world-class players over there, so it was a great penalty kill. It definitely gives you some confidence and gives you a chance to get a point. You get a point out of the game. If they score there, it’s going to make it pretty tough on us to get a goal with only a couple of minutes left in the hockey game.” – Jack Johnson, on the four-minute penalty kill.

"The position that we are in right now, everything's serious. Pretty much every game is important for us. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole here so we've got to gain some ground." – Anze Kopitar, on the Kings' situation heading into the All-Star game.

“It’s huge, absolutely. We need wins. We need two points. We dug a little hole for ourselves, and I think we’ve done a good job of starting to climb back out, but we still have a lot of work to do. So we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. We’re going to take it one game at a time and try to get two points every time.” – Jonathan Quick, on the confidence gained, going into the break.

“That’s a team effort. You’ve got to have the right D pair out there, to try to match that up. We believe on the back end more than the line matchup. And your goaltender has to be very big. Quick was outstanding. That’s three games in a row, now, for him, that he’s been great. When you have those premier players in the game facing you, you just have to make sure that everyday is tracking back. A real important part of it, against that team, I think, is to put back pressure on them, because they do a lot of crossing. They do a lot of delays, and looking for weak-side defensemen, so back pressure is critical, with your stick down, looking and anticipating those kinds of plays. Everybody was on board with it.” – Terry Murray, on keeping Heatley, Marleau and Thornton off the scoreboard

"When I turned around and fired, I didn't think there was a chance he was going to make that save. I knew he was pushing across, and he was sprawled out. I don't know how he saved it." – Sharks' rookie Logan Couture, on being denied by Quick on the shootout.