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Sharks try to stay alive in Game 6 vs. Kings

May 26, 2013 - 2:46 PM (Sports Network) - The home team has won every game so far in the Western Conference semifinal series between the Los Angels Kings and San Jose Sharks.

The Sharks hope that trend continues Sunday, as they attempt to stave off elimination when they host the defending Stanley Cup champions in Game 6 at HP Pavilion.

The fifth-seeded Kings won Games 1, 2 and 5 in Los Angeles and Thursday's 3-0 home victory gave them a 3-2 edge in this best-of-seven series.

Los Angeles has won 13 straight at the Staples Center dating back to the regular season, but the club is just 1-4 on the road in the playoffs and that record includes a pair of 2-1 setbacks at San Jose in Games 3 and 4.

San Jose, meanwhile, is a perfect 4-0 on home ice in the playoffs after going 17-2-5 at the Shark Tank during the regular season.

Of course, the sixth-seeded Sharks will have to find a way to beat Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick if they want to force a Game 7 at Los Angeles on Tuesday. Quick made 24 saves for his seventh career playoff shutout and second of this series in Thursday's blanking at Staples Center.

Quick, who also blanked the Sharks in the series opener, earned his 27th career playoff win, a new Kings record. He had been tied with Kelly Hrudey for the most in club history.

"We played well. We played hard, came out with a purpose," said Quick, who has a .954 save percentage and 1.40 goals against average in this series.

The Kings got a late second-period goal from Anze Kopitar and third-period tallies from Slava Voynov and Jeff Carter.

Antti Niemi stopped 26 shots for San Jose, which is trying to reach the conference final stage for the first time since 2011 when it lost to Vancouver in five games.

"(The Kings) came hard right off the bat, but we got through that without getting scored on," said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. "The rest of the night, we weren't very good and moving forward, maybe that's a good thing because we have a lot to improve on and need a better effort from a lot of people."

The Sharks are second in the league with 10 power-play goals this postseason, but the club was 0-for-3 on the man advantage in Thursday's setback. San Jose is 0-for-10 on the power play in its three losses to the Kings in this series and 3-for-9 in the two wins.

San Jose could get Adam Burish back from an injured right hand in Game 6. The forward sustained the injury in the final game of the Sharks' opening-round sweep of Vancouver and originally was expected to miss this entire series. He is questionable for Sunday.

This marks just the second postseason meeting between these two Pacific Division rivals. The Sharks got the best of the Kings in six games during the 2011 conference quarterfinals.