Jones gets another big laugh as Sharks top Kings

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SAN JOSE — Martin Jones skirted around the obvious, so assistant coach Rob Zettler went ahead and said it for him: it feels extra special to pick up a milestone win against your former-team.

Jones did just that Saturday, earning his 100th career win as the Sharks (19-11-4) beat the Los Angeles Kings (22-11-4) 2-0 at SAP Center. The win allowed the Sharks to maintain their hold on third place in the Pacific Division entering the NHL’s three-day Christmas break.

“It definitely means something,” Zettler said, highlighting the significance of Jones’ 100th career win coming against the Kings. “He had some success in L.A., won a cup there and it’s got to feel good to beat those guys.”

But in characteristic fashion, the humbled-minded goalie downplayed the relevance of the milestone, highlighting the importance of the team win instead. Jones insisted that he wasn’t aware that the win was his 100th until he was informed about it in a postgame interview

“I honestly haven’t thought about it,” Jones told reporters.

Jones also picked up his third shutout of the season, winning a goaltender’s duel against his former-mentor, Jonathan Quick, by making 28 saves after he’d surrendered four or more goals in six-consecutive starts.

The Sharks picked up Jones by playing strong team defense in front of him, an element of their game that has been lacking in the month of December as they’ve surrendered an uncharacteristic 3.00 goals per game. They did it without their top-defensive forward, Logan Couture, who missed his third-consecutive game with a concussion suffered on Dec. 15.

“We played with a lot of energy tonight,” Jones said. “That’s a tough team, a big strong physical team. I thought we answered the bell really well tonight. When we play with energy like that, and that kind of compete, we can beat any team in the league.”

Jones also snagged his first Stanley Cup playoff series win against the Kings two years ago and he boasts an 8-3-2 career record against his former-squad.

The Sharks managed to absorb Couture’s loss, at least for a night, by getting strong play from their bottom lines.

The fourth line redeemed itself after getting benched for the third period twice this week, and called out by head coach Pete DeBoer in the media. The unit broke a scoreless tie at 10:01 of the second.

Marcus Sorensen scored his third goal in four games, dancing through the Kings defense and slipping in a backhander after Kings defenders Andy Andreoff and Torrey Mitchell collided in the defensive zone. Dylan DeMelo and Mikkel Boedker picked up assists on the play.

“We didn’t play good the game before this and we knew it,” Sorensen said. “We came out hard today, and we won battles, and we got the puck deep.”

Joel Ward centered the fourth line Saturday after serving as a healthy scratch last game, skating in between Sorensen and Boedker.

“We got some quality minutes from our fourth line,” Zettler said. “That was a major difference (from earlier in the week). Being able to put those guys out at key times, key moments, and keeping our big guys minutes down a little bit helped.”

Tomas Hertl added an insurance goal at 7:35 of the third when a Joe Pavelski redirection of a Brent Burns shot hit his right leg as the puck found its way into the net.

Hertl’s 10th goal marked the eighth-consecutive game in which the Sharks power play, which went 1 for 5, has scored. The power play goal came against the league’s top-ranked penalty kill.

With a narrow lead, the Sharks managed to shut the door on the Kings in the third period, improving the team’s record to 13-0 when leading after two frames. The Sharks are also 2-1 without Couture.

The rivalry game featured a lot of physical play as Brent Burns, Brenden Dillon and Timo Meier stirred up the crowd by throwing big hits. Meier and Kings defenseman Drew Doughty received penalties for roughing in the middle of the third after the Sharks youngster stuck up for Joonas Donskoi, who took a vicious slash from the former-Norris Trophy winner.

“That was a fun hockey game to be a part of, it was fun to be on the bench,” said Zettler, who was filling in for DeBoer in the postgame media session. “You could feel the energy, not only in the building, you could feel it on the bench.”

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