Hill gets shutout in return, Sharks sweep at home and at home against Kings

SAN JOSE– Hill of Adin made 29 saves in his return for the San Jose Sharks, a 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center on Saturday.
Hill, who was activated off injured reserve earlier in the day, was making his first start since Jan. 22 after missing 15 games with a lower-body injury.
“I felt pretty good,” Hill said. “The guys made a [heck] of a job in front of me tonight and I kept the chances to a minimum and eliminated the guys and simplified my job.”
Video: [email protected]: Hill uses pad to prevent rebound
Timo Meier had a goal and two assists, Tomas Hertl marked twice and Nick Bonino had two assists for the Sharks (26-25-7), who swept home and away with the Kings after a 4-3 overtime win on Thursday.
“It’s good,” San Jose coach Bob Boughner said. “We’re just rolling our bench. We get contributions from every line and we can stagger ice time, and we stay out of the penalty box.”
Cal Peterson made 22 saves for the Kings (32-20-8), who ended their four-game streak with at least one point.
“Our team now has to forget this one,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “It’s done. But we have to make a decision, whether we’re going to wallow in pity, or whether we’re going to try to overcome.
“We have a tough task ahead of us with the teams we’re going to face, but we’re not giving ourselves a chance if we’re going to wallow.”
Video: [email protected]: Meier buries Burns pass for PPG
Meier gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at 9:19 of the first period. He scored a power-play goal from the high slot after Brent burns‘ passes behind the net missed Hertl in front.
“Even after I scored the power play goal, I thought it was a pretty fair game,” McLellan said. “We had a few chances, Hill made some really good saves. Consecutive turnovers under our goal line really hurt our team and then they rolled after that.”
Matt Nieto made it 2-0 at 11:55, scoring near the left post after Bonino’s pass was deflected by the Kings defender’s skate Jordan Spence.
Jonathan Dahlen increased the lead to 3-0 at 19:11, beating Petersen to five holes after a giveaway of Sean Durzi.
“The result is not as close as we wanted it to be, but they came out and obviously at 3-0 after the first period, that’s a big hole to dig ourselves into,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar noted.
Dahlen’s goal was his first since Jan. 29.
“Looks like he’s fighting to come back,” Boughner said. “He found his touch. The only problem I had with his game [before] was that he wasn’t winning enough puck battles in the offensive zone. … That’s where his game is best, when he digs. And he was rewarded.”
Video: [email protected]: Hertl backhand in a loose puck for PPG
Hertl made it 4-0 at 8:05 of the second period when he scored on a rebound after Meier’s shot hit the post on the power play.
He then made it 5-0 at 15:04 of the third period, sending a loose puck into the slot.
“We went through a lot of adversity, [but] we’re healthy and starting to play well,” Boughner said. “Who knows where this takes us. We have a tough game on Tuesday against one of the best teams in the league (Florida Panthers), but we’re definitely going to enjoy this one tonight.”
REMARKS: kings forward Dustin Brown left in the second period with an upper-body injury and will be out for an extended period of time, McLellan said. …Los Angeles defender matt roy left in the third period with a lower body injury. There was no update after the game.