Sharks Top Kings to Force a Game 7

The San José Sharks have never been to a Stanley Cup final. They've got the talent, but they've never put it together in successive seven-game series sufficient to earn a trip to that promised land.

And now again, the Sharks are a Game 7 away from advancing to a Western Conference final, the next step along the way.

To get into that position, Joe Thornton rang up a power-play goal in the first period and TJ Galiardi added a goal in the second to key a 2-1 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.

Antti Niemi made 24 saves as the Sharks matched Los Angeles' three home wins in this series with a third of their own. San José won all three games by 2-1 scores.

Game 7 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles. Road teams in NHL history are 8-8 in seventh games of series where the home team has won the first six games.

After taking a 1-0 lead early, the Sharks went more than 15 minutes without a shot before regaining their stride early in the second period. Galiardi beat Quick with a wrist shot from the faceoff circle for his first career playoff goal to make it 2-0, and San José had a chance to break the game open when Justin Williams was sent to the box for a double-minor high-sticking penalty.

But Quick and the Kings killed off all four minutes of power-play time and then got back into the game with just over six minutes left in the second, when Brown banked a shot from behind the goal line off Niemi and into the net.