Short-handed Kings edge past the Sharks

SAN JOSE -- What do you get when you subtract 16 goals and 40 points from the lineup?

Try 3-2.

The Kings were missing two scoring leaders on Wednesday night against the San Jose Sharks. And, well, so what?

Their shortfall of scoring punch was telling -- no shots for more than half of the first period -- but Kings goalie Jason LaBarbera kept his colleagues afloat until the offense arrived in the second period, as the Kings went on to beat the Sharks, 3-2, in a shootout in front of 17,071 at HP Pavilion. It was the Kings’ third win here in three games this season.

Heading into Wednesday, three Kings were tied for the team scoring lead: Michael Cammalleri, Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov, and two didn’t make it to the opening faceoff. Frolov, who missed his third consecutive game because of a groin injury, stayed in Los Angeles and Cammalleri was a last-minute scratch, suffering from the same problem. Frolov and Cammalleri have a combined 16 goals and 40 points.

“It was huge for us to be able to come and get another win against one of the better teams in the conference,” said LaBarbera, who faced 36 shots. “It’s pretty big -- especially missing two of our better players. Guys stepped up.”

He was talking about the likes of Kopitar, Patrick O’Sullivan and Dustin Brown, who all scored in the shootout.

So LaBarbera needed to make one save in the shootout and it came on Milan Michalek, who tried to beat him with a back-hander.

“All three of us took it upon ourselves to try and have the best game we could,” O’Sullivan said.

Kopitar got it started. He sparked the offense with a most opportunistic short-handed goal, at 10:39 of the second, swooping in to poke the puck past Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov apparently thought play had stopped after making the first save on Brown, who took advantage of defenseman Douglas Murray’s turnover at the point.

It was Kopitar’s 10th goal of the season.

O’Sullivan, at the left crease, put the Kings ahead, 2-1, at 17:54 of the second, taking a cross-ice pass from defenseman Brad Stuart for his fifth goal of the season.

The Sharks goals came from center Joe Thornton, his ninth, and defenseman Craig Rivet, his first. Rivet’s goal came on the power play, at 3:41 of the third, with Kings defenseman Jack Johnson in the penalty box for interference against Thornton.

So, call this a bit of a moral victory. Kings Coach Marc Crawford called it a “gutsy effort.”

Though Cammalleri has been struggling -- no goals in the last six games and only one in nine -- his absence created a huge hole, whether it happens to be on one of the top two scoring lines or the No. 1 power-play unit.

He didn’t take part in the morning skate but took the ice in the pregame warmup. It took him only a few minutes out there to force a change in plans.

“I thought I’d be able to go, thought I was ready to go,” said Cammalleri, who has 12 goals and 20 points. “It’s really frustrating. I hate not being able to play . . . I thought I’d be ready. I wasn’t going to be able to help the boys tonight.”

So some improvisation was required.

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