Quinton Byfield scored for the first time this season and added an assist as the Los Angeles Kings beat the visiting San Jose Sharks 4–3 on Wednesday night, Jan. 11.
The victory lifted Los Angeles to its first-ever season sweep in the series with San Jose. The Kings moved to 10–2–1 in their past 13 matches.
Adrian Kempe, Gabriel Vilardi and Drew Doughty potted goals, and sizzling goaltender Pheonix Copley stopped 27 shots to improve to 10–1–0 in his past 11 starts.
Timo Meier scored his 24th goal and had an assist, and Nick Bonino and Tomas Hertl hit the net for the Sharks. Netminder James Reimer made 33 saves as San Jose fell to 3–6–3 in the past 12 games.
In the first period, Byfield swooped in from the left side and skated behind the San Jose net. He hooked a pass around to Kempe, who popped in his team-leading 18th tally at 5:59.
Seeking his 200th career win, Reimer was under siege but held the deficit at 1–0 as the home side put 22 shots on goal.
Eighty seconds into the second, the Sharks tied it on Copley’s mistake. Erik Karlsson’s snap shot from the left circle was gloved momentarily by the goalie then bounced in front of him. He tried to play it with his stick but weakly slid it toward Bonino, who backhanded his fifth goal.
However, Byfield was back at it when he deflected Mikey Anderson’s long shot in at 6:58. It was the former No. 2 overall draft pick’s first tally in his 16th game.
Kings defenseman Sean Walker kept the game at 2–1 by putting his left skate between the goal and the puck with it sitting near the line behind Copley. He then prevented Meier from tapping in the tying marker.
The Sharks evened it at 2 when Meier netted on the power play at 10:11 of the third, but Sean Durzi’s point shot was redirected by Vilardi from the high slot for his 17th marker at 12:40 for a 3–2 lead.
Fifty-three seconds later, a trailing Doughty nailed the eventual winning score by firing in his third goal.
Down 4–2 in the third, San Jose got a goal from Hertl—his 14th—to cut it to 4–3, but Copley held strong for the victory.
