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Kings aim to rebound in Game 4 against Sharks

Apr 21, 2011 - 3:06 PM (Sports Network) - The Los Angeles Kings will try to rebound from an epic collapse when they host the second-seeded San Jose Sharks in Game 4 of the Western Conference quarterfinals tonight at the Staples Center.

When Los Angeles held a 4-0 lead early in the second period of Tuesday's Game 3, it appeared the home team was on its way to taking a 2-1 lead in this best- of-seven series. Instead, the visiting Sharks scored five times to tie the game by the end of the second period and would later win the tilt in overtime by a 6-5 score.

The Sharks now have a chance to take a commanding three games to one lead ahead of Saturday's Game 5 meeting in San Jose. However, the club's head coach insisted that his team put Tuesday's rally in the proper perspective.

"It's something we have to understand that we were very fortunate to have come back from that deficit," said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. "We're excited about it, but we also know the mulligan that we used tonight won't be available to us again."

Devin Setoguchi scored 3:09 into overtime to complete San Jose's thrilling comeback win at the Staples Center. In the extra session, Sharks forward Patrick Marleau carried the puck along the left wing and dished to Setoguchi driving down the middle and he fired a shot past Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick to give San Jose a 2-1 series lead.

San Jose had fallen behind 4-0 on a Brad Richardson tally 44 seconds into the second period, which spelled the end for Sharks starting goaltender Antti Niemi, who was replaced by Antero Niittymaki after making only six saves.

The Sharks then responded with five goals in the second, including a pair of tallies from Ryane Clowe. Joe Pavelski tied the game at 5-5 by scoring his second goal of the series with just 31 seconds left in the middle stanza.

"That's as bad as it gets in the second period for sure," said Los Angeles head coach Terry Murray.

Niittymaki stopped 11-of-12 shots in relief to record his first career playoff win. He also made his first postseason appearance since May 2, 2006, when he was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers..

Quick, coming off a 34-save shutout in Game 2 on Saturday, surrendered six goals on 36 shots for Los Angeles.

The Kings recorded a 4-0 victory in Game 2, and with their fast start on Tuesday, they had scored eight straight goals in this series. Los Angeles is hoping it can regain that momentum this evening.

"It stings right now," said LA defenseman Matt Greene after the loss. "We got to let it go though, right away. You give yourself tonight, you feel bad about it, but tomorrow's a new day."

The Sharks won the Pacific Division for a third straight season this year and are trying to make another deep postseason run after getting to the conference finals last spring before being swept by Chicago.

Los Angeles is back in the playoffs for a second straight year after missing the postseason tournament in the previous six seasons. The Kings, who lost to Vancouver in the first round last spring, haven't won a playoff series since beating Detroit in the opening round of the 2001 postseason.

These division rivals split six regular season games this year, but the Sharks held the points edge over LA with a 3-1-2 mark and posted a 6-1 home victory in the final meeting on April 4.

This is the first time the Sharks and Kings are meeting in the postseason.

Los Angeles had a solid 25-13-3 record as the host team this year, while San Jose had a 23-14-4 mark on the road.