Late rally nets victory

LOS ANGELES — After the Sharks and the Kings struggled to shoot any pucks into either net throughout a defense-dominated night, Joel Ward put his best foot forward Sunday.

Ward scored the tiebreaking goal on a long deflection off his skate with 7:10 to play, and San Jose rallied from a thirdperiod deficit for a 2-1 victory over Los Angeles.

Melker Karlsson scored the tying goal early in the third before Ward got creative and lucky, using his left skate from the face-off circle to redirect Barclay Goodrow’s centering pass from the side boards past Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick for his third goal of the season.

“I started playing soccer the last couple of days,” Ward said with a laugh, referring to many hockey players’ longstanding tradition of using soccer to warm up before games in arena hallways. “I don’t know. I saw it coming my direction. I actually knew Timo (Meier) was on the back side, and I just tried to redirect it over to his area.”

Instead, the puck went straight into Los Angeles’ net, beating Quick to his glove side.

With Martin Jones then finishing off a 26save performance, San Jose had its sixth win in seven games.

“When you come back in the third period to win it, it’s even more rewarding,” Goodrow said. “It’s always a tight-checking game against these guys.”

Dustin Brown scored on a first-period power play for the Pacific Division-leading Kings, who have lost four of six after a 9-1-1 start. Quick stopped 31 shots, but Los Angeles lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Briefly:

Meier was fined $2,403.67, the maximum allowed under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, for elbowing Vancouver defenseman Michael Del Zotto in the third period of San Jose’s 5-0 win Saturday. Meier was assessed a major penalty for elbowing and a game misconduct . ... The Sharks recalled forward Kevin Labanc from the minors.