Macklin Celebrini and Timothy Liljegren combined to score three goals in the opening 3:43 of the third period and the San Jose Sharks ended a three-game losing streak with a 7-2 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
Celebrini, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, delivered the second two-goal effort of his 12-game career. He has six goals overall. Celebrini also logged an assist to post his first three-point game.
Nico Sturm, Fabian Zetterlund, Alexander Wennberg and Luke Kunin also scored goals while Will Smith and William Eklund each had two assists for San Jose, which scored five times in the third period.
Yaroslav Askarov made 22 saves as the Sharks won their second consecutive matchup with the Kings this season after not beating them in regulation in each of the previous two campaigns.
Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist, Brandt Clarke scored a goal and Adrian Kempe notched two assists for the Kings. David Rittich made 14 saves as Los Angeles lost for the fourth time in six games.
In a 2-2 game, the Sharks went to work early in the third period, taking the lead on a Celebrini goal at the 1:03 mark. Liljegren made it 4-2 just 1:11 later when he scored his second of the season.
Celebrini’s second goal in a 2:40 stretch came on two-man advantage after the Kings unsuccessfully challenged the Liljegren goal and then were called for a tripping by Warren Foegele.
Wennberg scored his sixth for the Sharks on a power play near the midway point of the final period, and Kunin netted his fifth with less than two minutes remaining.
The Sharks needed all of 107 seconds to take a 1-0 lead when Sturm scored on a breakaway past Rittich off a long feed from Mario Ferraro that split a pair of Kings players at center ice.
The Kings grabbed a brief lead in the second period on goals from Clarke, his third of the season, at 2:32 and Kopitar at 8:58, his sixth.
Zetterlund produced the game-tying goal at 13:59 of the second. It was his ninth of the season, tying Mikael Granlund and Tyler Toffoli for the team lead.
–Field Level Media
