[0] KINGS HIT A BUMP IN ROAD NOLAN CONTINUES TO STUMP L.A. SAN JOSE 6, KINGS 3.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

SAN JOSE - The Kings were only 60 minutes from home when they took a really wrong turn.

Saturday was the final game of their longest trip in seven years and all you need to ask about the 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks was,``Sean O'Donnell kicked the puck into his own net?''

It didn't change anything in the standings. The Kings are still sixth in the Western Conference and play only seven more road games all year.

But on a night when Ziggy Palffy was sidelined with neck and back problems and the Sharks' Owen Nolan seemed to score every time down the ice, it was a frustrating end to a successful trip.

``I just tried to kick it out of the way and it went in,'' said O'Donnell, the usually solid member of the second defensive unit. ``I went up to (goaltender) Jamie (Storr) afterwards to apologize and he said Nolan would have scored anyway.''

O'Donnell's goal, which was credited to San Jose's Mike Ricci, came with 42 seconds left in the second period and gave the Sharks a 4-2 lead. Originally it was given to Nolan and would have been his third of the night. Hats rained down from the crowd of 17,483 at San Jose Arena and no one asked for a refund when Ricci got it instead.

Nolan's two goals give him five against the Kings in three games here this season. Needless to say, the Kings are winless in those games.

``Nolan is like no one else in the league,'' Kings captain Rob Blake said. ``He is the best combination of speed and power. He skated past me on his first goal and muscled his way in on the second. He was on his game and we weren't. We've been playing well, but we made too many mistakes tonight.

The Kings (30-25-7) came in with seven victories in their last nine games and nine in the last 12. That streak was enough to pass the Sharks (25-30-8) in the Western Conference playoff race.

But the Kings found themselves in too many penalty-killing situations against the Sharks. They killed off a 5 on 3 early in the second, but Nolan scored with four seconds left in the second infraction.

And they didn't have Palffy, who was cross-checked across the back of the neck during the second period Friday. He says he will play Tuesday.

``It was tough not to be in there tonight,'' said Palffy, who had 17 points in the Kings previous 12 games. ``We wanted to go out on a high note. But we're still playing well.''

The Kings erased a 1-0 San Jose lead in the first minute of the second period when Jaroslav Modry batted in a blast by Blake.

Modry was playing in place of defenseman Garry Galley, who suffered a strained neck in Friday's victory against the Canucks.

Just three minutes later Jozef Stumpel, who had two goals against Vancouver, gave the Kings a 2-1 goal with his 11th of the year. The streaky Stumpel opened the month with a goal in five consecutive games, then went six straight without.

Stumpel scored after a blast from Marko Tuomainen, who was playing on the first line in place of Palffy.

But the rest of the second period belonged to Nolan. He entered the game as the league's third-leading scorer with 70 points and tied the game at the 6:29 mark. He skated past Blake in the Kings end and took two shots at Storr. The second went in.

Nolan's second came on the power play, his league-leading 16th with the man advantage.

The Sharks added a fifth goal, by Vincent Damphousse at 5:27 of the third period on assists from Marco Sturm and Scott Hannan.

Just 25 seconds later, the Kings' Glen Murray beat Sharks goaltender Steve Shields for his 22nd goal. It cut the lead to 5-3, but Ronnie Stern later scored an empty-netter.

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Photo: San Jose center Ron Sutter (12) is unable to score past Kings goalie Jamie Storr in the first period during the Sharks' 6-3 victory.

Paul Sakuma/Associated Press