Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Joe Thornton scored 2:22 into overtime, as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3, in Game 6 to advance to the conference semifinals. The second-seeded Sharks bounced back from Saturdays 3-1 loss to win this Western Conference quarterfinal series 4-2. Antti Niemi made 26 saves for the Sharks, who are trying to embark on another deep playoff run after making it to the conference finals a year ago. San Jose was swept by Chicago in the third round last year. Kyle Wellwood, Jason Demers and Dany Heatley also lit the lamp for the Sharks, who won three overtime games in this series. LA played extremely hard, they were very well prepared, and their staff did a very good job of preparing their team to play against us, Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. We dont do anything easy. There is some resiliency in the locker room; the leadership showed through when it had to, the belief in the goaltenders we had was very important. Trevor Lewis had a goal and an assist for the Kings, who lost three overtime games in a playoff series for the first time since the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals against Montreal (Games 2, 3 and 4). Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams also scored for Los Angeles, which got 31 saves from Jonathan Quick. In Game 5, Quick made a franchise playoff-record 51 saves. The Kings had a great chance to break a 3-3 tie at the end of regulation. With 3:23 to play, San Joses Jamie McGinn slammed Brad Richardson into the boards and was given a major charging penalty and an automatic game misconduct. Niemi rose to the occasion, making multiple great saves in the final minutes to send the game into overtime. Los Angeles five-minute power play carried into the extra session, but the Sharks killed it off. Thats a critical moment in the game right there; we had a chance to put it away, Kings head coach Terry Murray said. I thought we did with about 17 seconds left in the game, there was celebration going on, people were throwing their arms in the air. I thought it was over. But again, thats a missed opportunity. On the game-winner, Devin Setoguchi carried the puck around the net and found himself along the left boards. His pass to the front of the net hit off Patrick Marleaus skate and bounced around. With Quick out of position, Thornton put the puck into the net for the thrilling victory. The puck kind of popped out and I was just in front of the net and grabbed it and put it in the open net, Thornton said. It was a pretty good play whoever shot the puck. I was just in the right place at the right time. The Sharks drew first blood at the 2:58 mark of the second period. Wellwood took a pass from Thornton and beat Quick with a shot from the slot. Thorntons mistake led to Los Angeles first goal. A double minor for high sticking gave the Kings a four-minute power play at the 11:13 mark. Williams jammed home a rebound over two minutes into the man advantage to make it a 1-1 game. Demers put the Sharks up 2-1 with 3:08 to play in the middle stanza when his snap shot from the right circle beat Quick. Smyth scored off a rebound just 18 seconds into the third to make it a 2-2 contest. San Jose went back in front at the 8:48 mark. Heatley stole the puck at the blue line and made his way to the left circle. His snap shot got past Quick. Lewis power-play goal made it 3-3 with 8:21 remaining. Jarret Stoll launched a shot from the left point that hit a skate in front, and Lewis was in the right spot to knock in the loose puck. GAME NOTES:Los Angeles has come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series just once in its history. That was back in 1989 when the Kings ousted Edmonton in seven games of a division semifinal series...The Kings, who lost to Vancouver in the first round last year, havent won a playoff series since beating Detroit in the opening round of the 2001 postseason...San Jose has never lost a series when leading three-games-to-one. Stephon Tuitt Jersey . Media reports had suggested Kaka, who joined Madrid for a fee of 65 million euros (C$92 million) in 2009, may be on the move before the Aug. 31 transfer deadline with AC Milan, Inter Milan and Arsenal among the clubs linked. Hines Ward Grey Jersey .C. - After two disappointing losses, the Charlotte Bobcats bounced back in a big way. http://www.authenticsteelersteamshop.com/Ryan-Shazier-Steelers-Jersey .C. - The Carolina Panthers re-signed long snapper J. Steelers Ryan Shazier Womens Jersey . Although head coach Randy Carlyle jokingly wondered how much actual training Bolland got done while in London. "I dont know how much training goes on when you go back to the junior team that you played for so I wouldnt read too much into that," laughed Carlyle after the Maple Leafs were put through an up-tempo practice that concluded with a 10-minute bag skate on Thursday. http://www.authenticsteelersteamshop.com/Martavis-Bryant-Steelers-Jersey . -- With Portland trailing Utah to start the fourth quarter, Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard did what an All-Star is supposed to do.TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers three questions each week. This week, topics cover the Blue Jays rotation, the futures John Gibbons and Alex Anthopoulos, protecting pitchers and a bonus question on his predictions for the MLB playoffs. 1) With J.A. Happ heading to the DL, the Toronto Blue Jays have announced a starting rotation of R.A. Dickey, Drew Hutchison, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow and Dustin McGowan. Should the Blue Jays feel confident with that group or even this early in the season, should they be looking outside the organization for an upgrade? Or should they have kept a prospect like Aaron Sanchez or Marcus Stroman with the big club? The Blue Jays are starting the season with exact rotation they should be using. Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman both need more development but at some point they may be called upon to help. Certainly there are big questions for three-fifths of the starters but there is definitely upside. RA Dickey is just a year removed from his NL Cy Young Award and is predictable and dependable. I cant believe I am saying that about a knuckleballer but it is true. Mark Buerhle is a more than serviceable innings-eater who gives his team a chance to win start after start. After these two though the questions are significant. Brandon Morrow has suffered injuries in each of the past two seasons after looking like a number one starter at times in 2012. Dustin McGowan is throwing in the mid-nineties and is working on a curve ball to go with his devastating slider, but he has thrown just 46 2/3 innings since 2008 because of recurrent shoulder injuries. Drew Hutchison hasnt pitched in the Major Leagues for the past year and a half due to Tommy John surgery but prior to that he looked like he could be a long-term answer for the rotation. Before the season begins players, front office personnel and fans close their eyes and dream about what could be. I can close my eyes and see RA Dickey commanding his dancing knuckler that will baffle hitter. I can envision Buerhle getting a ton of grounders and working quickly getting the powerhouse offense back in the dugout and scoring a ton of runs. I can picture Brandon Morrow rifling his fastball by the games biggest sluggers and logging a ton of strikeouts. I can imagine McGowan and Hutchison fulfilling the potential that they once had as well. It could happen just that way. But it probably wont. My experience is that the more questions you enter with the more things that will likely go wrong. There is a bunch of unpredictability in this rotation. Depth will be important. It is safe to assume that health will be an issue at some point because it has been an issue in the past. Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond may make starts if necessary. But Alex Anthopolous is going to have to keep working the phones to look for upgrades. Early in the season other clubs arent typically trading good pitchers but he will need to be ready for when they do become available. So when you close your eyes and dream just hope it is not a nightmare. 2) Is manager John Gibbons on the hot seat with the Blue Jays? If the team is slow out of the gate again this year, will he be replaced? Are his and Alex Anthopouloss future tied together (if one goes, the other follows him out the door)? I dont think John Gibbons is on the hot seat during the season this year. I know there were big expectations last year but the collapse wasnt Gibbons fault. The starting rotation just fell apart on him as Morrow and Josh Johnson got hurt and Ricky Romero imploded. Jose Reyes injury crushed the offense early in the season and more injuries followed. The expectations are less this year than a year ago. It certainly behooves the Jays to get off to a good start so they can start to believe in themselves but Gibbons cant pitch for his team and the staff will be the key. I have never been a believer that managers and general managers are tied at the hip. The manager needs to look at the GM as his boss. Clearly Gibbons was brought back to the Jays because of his relationship with Anthopolous but if Anthopolous thinks a change needs to be made he will have to make it. If ownership gets to a point where they believe the roster is flawed and they decide to make a decision on the general manager it is unlikely Gibbons would survive a change in regime. Anthoplous can possibly survive the firing of Gibbons but I dont believe Gibbons would survive the firing of Anthopolous. As it stands today both the manager and general manager are on firm ground as they should be. They just need to be honest with themselves and their bosses about what the expectations are with the roster they have. The owners can hope to be competitive in the tough AL East but if they expect to win it then both Anthopolous and Gibbons are in trouble. This is a roster for which you can hope but not expect great things. 3) With Reds starter Aroldis Chapman and Rays starter Matt Moore both being hit in the head by comebackers to the mound in spring training, is it time for Major League Baseball and/or the players union to implement mandatory pitcher protection? It seems that pitchers have become more annd more vulnerable over the past few seasons.ddddddddddddnbsp; Fortunately, we have avoided major catastrophe but we shouldnt be shocked if a pitcher were to be killed by a hit ball. We have just been lucky so far. I am a firm believer that we should never wait for someone to be killed to make a change. Baseball already did that once. Base coaches wear helmets now because a minor league first base coach was hit in the head by a line drive and killed. If protecting pitchers is being considered then protect them. Lets not wait for a tragedy. It is currently optional for pitchers to wear the new protective headgear that was developed by MLB for this year. The feedback so far is that the hats look funny and are not overly comfortable. MLB needs to keep refining the protective hats to make them functional. This needs to be a priority for the Players Association as well. Protective hats for pitchers need to be made mandatory at the minor league level initially. Let the kids get comfortable with them so by the time they are big leaguers it is commonplace. Once the hat is advanced enough make it mandatory for major league pitchers to wear. There is no clock in baseball but we need to put a clock on this. Every pitch thrown puts a pitcher at risk. Please hurry. 4) With the second and third opening days approaching for Major League Baseball it is time to make predictions. Here is how I see the American League:AL East AL Central AL West 1) Boston Detroit Oakland2) Tampa Bay* Kansas City** LA Angels3) Baltimore Cleveland Texas4) Blue Jays Minnesota Seattle5) New York Yankees Chicago Houston * first Wild Card ** second Wild Card AL CHAMPION: Oakland As defeat Detroit AL AWARDS AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DetroitAL MVP: Justin Verlander, DetroitAL Rookie of Year: Yordano Ventura, Kansas CityAL Manager of Year: Ned Yost, Kansas City Here are my predictions for the NL:NL East NL Central NL West1) Washington St Louis LA Dodgers 2) Atlanta** Milwaukee SF Giants*3) NY Mets Cincinnati Arizona4) Philadelphia Pittsburgh Colorado5) Miami Chicago San Diego* first Wild Card ** second Wild Card NL CHAMPION: Washington Nationals defeat Dodgers NL AWARDS NL MVP: Freddie Freeman, Atlanta BravesNL CY Young: Stephen Strasburg, Washington NationalsNL Rookie of Year: Gregory Polanco, Pittsburgh Pirates Manager of the Year: Mike Matheny, St Louis Cardinals WORLD SERIES CHAMPION: Washington Nationals defeat Oakland As LET THE GAMES BEGIN…..PLAY BALL!!! ' ' '
