KINGS KO SHARKS IN 7
Williams’ goals, Quick’s saves lead way
LOS ANGELES Justin Williams had gone eight games without a goal, and that was enough.
Williams, the Los Angeles Kings right winger, scored the first two goals of a pressurized Game 7 Tuesday that sent the Kings on their way to a 2-1 victory against the San Jose Sharks and a date with either the Chicago Blackhawks or Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference finals.
“I felt like I could have had three or four goals tonight,” said Williams, 31, who has 19 career playoff goals. “I had quite a few opportunities. But I’ll take the two.”
The triumph was the Kings’ sixth consecutive playoff series victory going back to last year and kept alive their hopes to become the first team to successfully defend a Stanley Cup title since the Red Wings won in 1997 and 1998.
Every game in this series had been won by the home team, so the Kings had that going for them.
Then, early in the second period, after a great save by Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick, the Kings took another advantage that has been decisive in this series. They scored first.
In the previous six games, the team that scored first won, so when Williams punched in a rebound on a power play 4:11 into the second period for a 1-0 lead, the home team was feeling good.
“I don’t think he (San Jose goalie Antti Niemi) saw the puck,” Williams said. “I was able to whack, whack, whack, and it went in.”
The Kings were feeling even better three minutes later, when Williams scored on a 3-on-2 rush off a pass from Anze Kopitar to make it 2-0.
“A great play by Kopy,” Williams said.
It was Quick’s first career Game 7, and last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner handled himself beautifully. His sprawling save on a strong backhander by Sharks center Logan Couture seemed to set a tone in the second period.
Dan Boyle made it 2-1 with a long blast through traffic early in the third.
Quick stopped everything thrown at him at the end.
He said it was great to win Game 7. But he said it would have been great to win Game 6 in San Jose, too.
“If we’re going to continue to advance in the playoffs, we’re going to have to win on the road at some point,” Quick said. “We’re going to have to figure that out.”
But opponents are going to have to figure out Quick, too, and that has not been easy.