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Roenick leads Sharks past Kings, moves closer to history

Nov 4, 2007 - 6:15 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Jeremy Roenick inched closer to the history books and helped the San Jose Sharks to a much-needed win in the process.

Roenick scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second period and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 24 shots as the Sharks gained a split of their home-and-home series with the Los Angeles Kings with a 3-1 victory on Saturday.

A former King, Roenick got the biggest response of the evening from the sellout crowd at 10:38 of the middle session, when he batted home the rebound of a shot by defenseman Alexei Semenov for a 2-1 lead.

It was the 499th career goal for the 19-year veteran, who is just one shy of becoming just the third American-born player to reach 500 for his career. Hall of Famer Joe Mullen and Dallas Stars center Mike Modano are the only others to have reached the plateau.

Jonathan Cheechoo scored an insurance goal on a pass from Joe Thornton with 6:23 remaining in the third.

The Sharks, who won for just the second time in five games, jumped on the Kings early by converting a power-play opportunity. Joe Pavelski scored his third goal of the season on a feed by Thornton at 2:21 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.

The Kings got even just over three minutes later, when former Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart's blast from the blue line eluded a screened Nabokov at 5:28.

Jason LaBarbera stopped 25 shots for Los Angeles, which posted a 5-2 triumph at San Jose on Friday.