LA Kings fall to San Jose Sharks in Game 4 on the road, move to brink of elimination

The LA Kings are going to need another miracle to get out of the first round this postseason.

In a game where Los Angeles was expected to perform pretty well considering the stakes on Wednesday night, it’s safe to say that the effort they put forth wasn’t all it could have been.

San Jose is now on the verge of knocking off the Los Angeles for the second time in the last couple of seasons, but their last effort to do so ended in an embarrassing seven game exit after beating the Kings in the first three games two years ago.

The Kings really hope that things turn in their favor as the clubs enter the final stretch of this first round series, which features two of the potential last three games being played out at Staples Center.

While it’s an edge that the Kings can definitely use to their full advantage, they cannot afford another loss or they will be taken out of this year’s run for the Stanley Cup.

Winning against Los Angeles this time around would be a huge confidence boost for San Jose, who recently entrusted former Kings goaltender Martin Jones with their net.

In order to be considered serious Stanley Cup contenders this year, the Sharks were pinned with having to first get through the Kings and then follow that up with a series against the Anaheim Ducks, should they get the best of the Nashville Predators in their respective first round match up.

The Kings don’t like to be on the outside looking in, so don’t count them out just yet even though things look pretty bleak.

Friday night in Los Angeles will be the stage for Game 5 of the best-of-seven series, and Staples Center, as expected, will make it very hard for the visitors to escape the night with a berth in the second round.

As shown in recent years, the Kings thrive in these kinds of dire situations unlike any team we’ve really ever seen in professional sports — it’s almost like excelling under this amount of pressure is just in their DNA.

For Los Angeles to come out with a win on Friday, they are going to have to be able to stop San Jose’s power play unit, who were responsible for all three of the Sharks’ goals on Wednesday.

Defensively, the Kings need to pull it together as a full unit and let their stars shine at their respective positions instead of trying to have everyone do everything.

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They might do best in the chaos, but they won’t go anywhere and it won’t mean anything without some sort of structure and organization from here on out.