ITPV » “Im not sure well get Melky Cabrera at all,” said Gibbons.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Captain Joe Thornton set the tone by dishing out hits almost every chance he got. The rest of his San Jose teammates followed his lead as the Sharks wanted to send a message to the Los Angeles Kings in case these California rivals meet again with much more on the line in a few weeks. Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture scored second-period goals and the Sharks clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs by beating the Kings 2-1 on Thursday night in a possible playoff preview. "I wanted to hit something tonight, thats all. That was the game plan," Thornton said. "Were starting to ramp up our game a little bit. That was just the case tonight. We might see these guys in 12 days or so, so just play hard and see what happens." Thornton matched his career-high with six hits and also nearly got into a fight with Slava Voynov in the second period as part of a physical game between two teams that have serious animosity toward each other. San Jose had a franchise-record 52 hits in all, including 10 by Tommy Wingels, as the Sharks didnt back down a bit against the powerful Kings. "I liked fact that we stood our ground and battled hard," coach Todd McLellan said. "The physical battles, theyre known to win a lot of those. We were in them for the most part." Antti Niemi made 26 saves and the Sharks overcame a first-period deficit to move within a point of Anaheim for first place in the Pacific Division. The Ducks still have two games in hand and the inside track on the top spot. Jordan Nolan scored the lone goal for the Kings, who had their eight-game road losing streak snapped by their first loss away from home since Jan. 28 in Phoenix. Martin Jones made 19 saves as starter Jonathan Quick got rest a night after shutting out the Coyotes to clinch a playoff berth. The Kings are locked into third place in the division after the loss and will play the Sharks in the first round unless San Jose passes Anaheim in the standings. "We play similar styles, its in-your-face hockey and if we do play them in playoffs it would be fun to watch," Nolan said. Of more immediate concern was an upper-body injury that knocked star defenceman Drew Doughty out midway through the first period. Doughty appeared to hurt his left shoulder while checking Tyler Kennedy. There was no word on the extent of Doughtys injury. "Anytime you lose a D-man especially one of his calibre its a big hole," defenceman Jake Muzzin said. "I thought we did well trying to replace him." These teams have met in two of the past three postseasons with San Jose winning a first-round series in six games in 2011 and Los Angeles winning a seven-game, second-round series last spring. The home team has won 16 of the past 17 games in this series, including all seven in last years playoffs. The Kings were the only road team to break through in that stretch with a 1-0 win on Jan. 27. The Sharks took over the play in the second period, scoring twice to take a 2-1 lead. The first goal came just 4 seconds after Kings forward Dustin Brown was sent off for roughing Andrew Desjardins. Thornton won the ensuing faceoff from Jarret Stoll and the puck got back to the point to Brent Burns, whose shot deflected off Pavelski to tie the game. San Jose went ahead a few minutes later when Jones couldnt control a shot by Tommy Wingels and Couture scored his 21st goal on a wraparound. "Thats probably the best weve played in a while, the most physical weve played in a while," Couture said. "Theyre a good team over there, but I felt tonight we were more physical. We played pretty well." The Kings threatened but couldnt tie it in the third as Niemi stopped Anze Kopitar in the final minute to seal it. The Kings got on top early on a double deflection as Alec Martinezs point shot deflected off Jaret Stoll and then Nolan before it beat Niemi less than 4 minutes into the game. The Sharks didnt test Jones much early as most of the opening period was played in San Joses end. Their best chance came when Marty Havlat shot wide on a breakaway. NOTES: Martinez has 15 points in his past 17 games. ... Kings F Dwight King was sideline by an undisclosed injury and D Matt Greene played his 500th game as Willie Mitchell got the night off. ... The Sharks dressed D Scott Hannan in place of Matt Irwin. NFL Jerseys Discount . Robert Griffin III, the No. 2 pick in the 2012 draft, set numerous rookie records and was picked AP Offensive Rookie of the Year for the Washington Redskins. China NFL Jerseys http://www.salejerseysnfl.com/ . "I just think what it does for everybody in life is real simple," said Babcock early on Friday afternoon. "You dont give in. You just keep on keeping on. Is it going to go your way every time? No. But you choose your attitude and how you perform and how hard you dig in." Nearly four years to the day of the 2010 gold medal match in Vancouver, his team dug in with its best effort of these Olympics, snuffing out the high-powered Americans for another opportunity at gold. Stitched NFL Jerseys .6 seconds left to give the Toronto Raptors a 92-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in an exhibition game Wednesday night. Clearance Nike NFL Jerseys . “Im not sure well get Melky Cabrera at all,” said Gibbons. The 29-year-old left fielder struggled all season with knee and hamstring problems. Cabrera was first on the disabled list from June 27-July 20 with tendinitis in his left knee.SALT LAKE CITY -- Jeremy Evans scored 12 points and had 13 rebounds to help the Utah Jazz rout the Golden State Warriors 101-78 in an exhibition Tuesday night. John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead.dddddddddddd Derrick Favours had 10 points and 14 rebounds, Alec Burks had 14 points and Burke added 12 points. Free agent acquisition Marreese Speights led the Warriors with 13 points. Stephen Curry and David Lee each had 10 points for Golden State. ' ' '