By BEN ROSS The Associated Press
SAN JOSE — Akil Thomas scored his first NHL goal and David Rittich stopped 15 shots as the Kings beat the San Jose Sharks, 2-1, on Thursday night to improve their playoff position.
Adrian Kempe also scored for the Kings, who moved seven points ahead of St. Louis for the second Western Conference wild card with six games remaining. The Kings also stayed one point behind Nashville for the top wild card and climbed within one point of Vegas for third place in the Pacific Division.
Klim Kostin scored for the last-place Sharks, who have lost 11 of 12 and are 0-7-1 in their last eight games against the Kings. Mikael Granlund had an assist to extend his point streak to six games.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves in the loss.
Kempe scored his 25th goal on a breakaway midway through the first period to give the Kings an early lead.
Thomas scored 18 seconds later to make it 2-0. The 24-year-old center was playing his second NHL game. He had 22 goals in 61 games this season for Ontario in the American Hockey League.
Kostin put the Sharks on the board with 1:52 left and Blackwood pulled for an extra skater.
The Kings outshot the Sharks 27-16.
Rittich’s best save came in the first period when he stopped Filip Zadina on a partial breakaway.
Kings center Phillip Danault missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury.
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UP NEXT
The Kings host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday at 7 p.m.
More to come on this story.