Peterson's shutout keys Kings victory

LOS ANGELES » The Kings finally earned a win against the San Jose Sharks and had positive injury news for a change as well, triumphing 3-0 at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday and welcomed back veteran defenseman Alex Edler.

The Kings have accumulated points in six of their last eight games, including five victories, but two of their three losses in that span came to the Sharks. Overall, they’ve won just four of their 15 meetings with San Jose and one of four this season.

Still missing nine other players, Edler’s recovery was a significant boost. He broke his ankle during a nasty fall after his skate became entangled with the side boards. Edler, 35, could have ended up missing the season, but instead came back well ahead of the February prognosis of a return at the end of March. He drew in for Christian Wolanin, registering 12:59 of ice time and two shots on goal.

Centers Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault each scored a goal for the Kings. Cal Petersen stopped 29 shots en route to his third shutout of the season and the fourth of his career.

James Reimer made 24 of 26 saves. The shutout was unlucky No. 7 for the Sharks this season.

Though Petersen had to be sharp as San Jose pressed on, including storming his net and getting traffic in front of him, the Sharks failed to score. Their fate was sealed when Kempe sent a long shot into an empty net with 2:56 to play.

The Kings extended their lead with 3:33 left in the second period on a play that Danault started with an offensive-zone faceoff win and finished by putting back a rebound from defenseman Sean Durzi’s point shot.

Danault, who famously told reporters he and his wife conceived their first child after

KINGS 3, SHARKS 0

THE SCORE

Kings at Golden Knights, Saturday, 1 p.m., BSW

he and the Montreal Canadiens advanced to last year’s Stanley Cup Final, became the father of his second child, a baby girl, on Wednesday.

San Jose had some near-misses in the period. Winger Rudolfs Balcers hit the post with a deflection so close to a score that the goal light went on, and forward Tomas Hertl had a late-period breakaway that forced Petersen to oh-so-narrowly make a pad save. Hertl took himself off the trade market on Wednesday, when he signed an eight-year contract extension worth more than $65 million.

Just before the seven-minute mark of the second period, the Kings cashed in on the power play. Kopitar’s far-side snipe finally snapped him out of his goal-scoring rut. His team-leading 52nd point was his 16th goal, having seen 10 games pass since No. 15.

As for the rest of the top line, Kempe also scored for the first time in 11 games, albeit into a vacated cage, and Alex Iafallo extended his career-high goal drought to 17 games.

In the opening frame, the Kings recorded the game’s first six shots, thanks in part to a stirring shift early Kopitar, Kempe and Iafallo.