San Jose defense shuts down Kings' stars to grab 2-0 series lead

There was a sense of offensive emptiness with the Los Angeles Kings after the San Jose Sharks shut them down for the second straight game.

It was an expression of confusion for a team that seems to find enough scoring from their top players come playoff time.

“These guys aren’t getting enough,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “You talk about the offense, but when you talk about sawing off, once you break it down I don’t think you’re getting enough in terms of, not really possession but for sure not enough shots out of those guys for sure.”

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In Game 2 of their first-round series the San Jose Sharks relied on their own grind game to shut down Kings stars Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli and Drew Doughty and score a 2-1 win at Staples Center on Saturday. This gave the Sharks a 2-0 series lead heading to San Jose for Games 3 and 4 this week.

“For us when we’re playing well defensively I think we don’t give them too much time and space. We have a good gap coming through the neutral zone. We don’t give them a lot of room to skate,” Sharks defenseman Paul Martin said. “They had a couple (chances) towards the end there in the third we gave them too much room and they were able to make some opportunities there. Just supporting in our D zone, making sure they have to go 200 feet to get it in.”

Before the game, the Kings’ lack of defensive depth with Alec Martinez out with an injury, was supposed to be their undoing. Overall that played little part in why the Sharks exploited Los Angeles in Game 2.

Captain Joe Pavelski fired his third goal of the playoffs just 3:37 into the game on San Jose’s first shot on goal to put the score at 1-0.

Then the Sharks took advantage of an undisciplined moment by the Kings when a roughing penalty by Toffoli and a charging penalty by Milan Lucic gave them a two-minute 5-on-3 power play.

Logan Couture scored to put San Jose up 2-0 at the 8:44 mark of the second with the double man-advantage.

“It’s nice, you score first it’s really good. It’s good to see guys push for another one too,” Pavelski said. “The lines were creating chances and we drew some penalties along the way. It allowed our momentum to carry through.”

Kopitar, LA's leading scorer this past season, has just one assist and has fired one shot on goal this series. Toffoli, LA's regular season leading goal scorer, has also been a non-factor with no points and a minus-3 rating. Los Angeles got somewhat of a boost with sniper Marian Gaborik returning to the lineup after being out since Feb. 12 with a knee injury. He had four shots on goal in 14:32 of action, and Sutter called him the team’s best winger, but he couldn’t score.

The Sharks kept defenseman Drew Doughty off the scoresheet for the second straight game, and forced him to rush create offense. Doughty had zero shots on goal and missed the net on four shots and saw six of his attempts blocked.

The Kings fired 27 shots on goal overall. The prior game they scored three goals, but two of them were banked off Sharks players and weren't considered clean scores.

“We’ve done a great job both games, keeping them to the outside. They’re a team that likes to crash the net and take pucks to the net,” Sharks goaltender Martin Jones said. “We’ve done a really good job. The other thing is just shot blocking. All year it’s been great.”

Said Kopitar, "Definitely not the start that we wanted but, again, we’re hopping on a plane tomorrow with just one thought in our mind."

Sharks owner Hasso Plattner again raced into the locker room after the game and congratulated the players in energetic fashion. The excitement of beating a rival was understandable from Plattner, but the players themselves didn't quite share their boss's overt enthusiasm. They understand the toughest part of the series awaits them at home.

The team finished the season 18-20-3 at SAP Center, while the Kings were 22-16-3 away from Staples Center.

“We’ve been good on the road all year. We know we can win on the road. It gives you a little confidence to come in and handle it (in the playoffs),” Pavelski.

Also, for the Sharks a 2-0 lead doesn’t mean much. They’ve seen a 3-0 series lead evaporate – at the hands of the Kings – and relief won’t settle in until they win that elusive fourth game against LA.

“It means it’s a good start,” Pavelski said of winning Games 1 and 2. "That’s all it means. It means there’s still a lot of work to do. We didn’t win the series tonight. It’s a good start. You come in and steal two wins in this building and a lot of good stuff was done.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper