BOX SCORE
SAN JOSEDan Boyle scored early in the third period and again in overtime as the Sharks came from behind to beat the Los Angeles Kings in overtime on Saturday night at HP Pavilion, 3-2.
The seventh-seeded Sharks will visit the second-seeded St. Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs. The league will announce dates and times on Sunday morning.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Boyles backhander with 1:02 left in overtime over the shoulder of Jonathan Quick gave the Sharks their fourth straight win as they concluded the regular season.
Trailing 2-0 after two, the Sharks fought back to tie the game in the third period.
First, Boyles wrister got through traffic in front of Quick just 35 seconds after the faceoff.
San Jose went to the power play when Matt Greene drove Tommy Wingels into the glass from behind, and capitalized with the game-tying goal at 8:14. Patrick Marleaus shot appeared to deflect in off of the stick of Willie Mitchell, making him the third Sharks player to reach 30 goals for the yearthe first time in franchise history thats happened.
San Jose Sharks
Thomas Greiss entered the game to start the third period in relief of Antti Niemi, who stopped 23 of 25 Kings shots through two periods. Greiss finished with six saves to record the victory.
The Kings opened the scoring at 11:09 of the first period. Justin Williams cut to the slot in finding a soft spot in the Sharks defense and redirected a pass from Jarret Stoll while Marty Havlat served a slashing penalty.
Havlat got to view the Kings second power play goal from the penalty box, too, when he was off on a trip late in the second. Mike Richards deposited a loose puck with a backhand at 19:04, to give Los Angeles its sixth goal on the man advantage in the last two games against San Jose.
The Sharks allowed four power play goals to the Kings in Thursdays 6-5 shootout win.
San Jose seemed to lack the energy and drive it showed in that wild game just two nights earlier, and the scoring chances were few and far between through the first two periods. Havlat blasted one off of the post just a minute into the game in what was probably the Sharks best chance through 40 minutes.
The Sharks were fairly lethargic for the majority of the first period and the first half of the second, too. Marleau nearly tied it with about eight minutes left his backhand from the slot missed an open net, while Wingels was stopped from the slot on a beautiful pad stop by Quick with about six and a half left in the second.
Trailing 1-0 in the second, San Jose had more than a minute of time with a two-man advantage following successive penalties to Jordan Nolan, who slashed Douglas Murray, and Richards, who drilled Logan Couture headfirst from behind and was sent off for boarding.
The Sharks squandered the opportunity, though, as Couture whiffed on a one-timer from the circle and then flubbed another one shortly after. Richards promptly exited the box and gave the Kings their two-goal advantage before the intermission, 40 seconds after his penalty expired.