Akil Thomas scored his first NHL goal to help the visiting Los Angeles Kings beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 on Thursday night.
Adrian Kempe also scored and David Rittich made 15 saves for the Kings (40-25-11, 91 points), who pulled within a point of the Nashville Predators for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference and within a point of the Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Division.
Los Angeles also increased its lead over the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card in the West to seven points.
Los Angeles, St. Louis and Nashville each have six games left and the Golden Knights have seven remaining.
Klim Kostin scored for the second straight game and Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves for the Sharks (17-50-8, 42 points), who have lost 11 of 12.
The Kings took a 1-0 lead at 10:55 of the first period.
The Sharks had possession in the Los Angeles zone, but Kostin tried to pass the puck back to the blue line. Kempe intercepted the pass and outraced two San Jose players before beating Blackwood for his 25th goal of the season.
Thomas, who was playing in his second NHL game, scored 18 seconds later to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Sharks won the faceoff after Kempe’s goal and dumped the puck in the Los Angeles zone, but the Kings broke out on a three-on-two rush. Jordan Spence dropped the puck for Thomas trailing on the play and he scored from the inside edge of the right circle.
The Kings killed a double-minor high-sticking penalty on Spence in the scoreless second period.
The Sharks pulled Blackwood for the extra attacker and Kostin scored with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle to spoil Rittich’s fourth shutout of the season and cut it to 2-1 with 1:52 left in the game.
Los Angeles will face just one playoff-bound team over its final six games, including three games against teams at the bottom of the NHL standings.
–Field Level Media
