Kings beat Sharks in Game 7 to advance
Posted May 28, 2013 9:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LOS ANGELES, CA (NEWS1130) – Justin Williams scored twice in the second period and the Los Angeles Kings held on to beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in Game 7 of their Western Conference Semifinal. Dan Boyle scored for San Jose.
The teams got off to a slow start as they combined for a measly eight shots in a goalless first period. The Kings did have a terrific chance to open the scoring just a couple of minutes in, but couldn’t get the puck through the Sharks’ defence in a goal-mouth scramble.
With Brent Burns sitting in the box for interference, Williams opened the scoring on the powerplay 4:11 into the second period. Williams jammed a loose puck at the side of the net up and over Antti Niemi’s pad and it just trickled over the line before being cleared away.
Williams made it a 2-0 Kings lead just under three minutes later as he slid a one-timer in, just past the outstretched pad of Niemi. Williams has now scored five goals in four career Game 7’s.
The Sharks made things interesting when Boyle beat Jonathan Quick 5:26 into the third period.
Quick had to be very good late in the third period to preserve the victory, including a game-saving stop on Joe Pavelski with half of the net wide open.
Quick made 25 saves as the Kings were outshot 26-18.
Williams, who won the cup last year with Los Angeles as well as in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes, says their experience helped them get through the series.
“Just knowing that we’ve been there before gives us a little bit of an extra push that we know we were going to get it done.”
A pair of series trends were solidified in Game 7. All seven games were won by the home team, and also by the team that scored first.
The Kings will meet the winner of Wednesday’s Game 7 between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.
