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ByCurtisPashelka BayAreaNewsGroup SAN JOSE The first shot that Martin Jones faced as the San Jose Sharks' No. 1 goalie in a regular-season game found the back of the net. Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown put a wrist shot toward the goal from above the circle that Nick Shore redirected into the short side. The crowd at Staples Cen- ter went nuts. But there was no big display of emotion by Jones after the goal went in just 1:49 into his Sharks tenure, no visible sign of panic. As his new teammates would come to find out in that game and over the next seven months, he doesn't get rattled by much. "That attitude that you see," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said, "that's what we feel out there." Jones is now getting ready for his first NHL playoff start for any team, as the Sharks face the Kings in the opening game of the opening round Thursday night in Los Angeles. If the regular season is any indication, Jones won't be over- whelmed by the moment. In his first full season in San Jose, Jones has been ev- erything the Sharks could have hoped for, going 37-23-4 with six shutouts in 65 games. His goals against average of 2.27 was ranked seventh in the league among goalies with at least 30 games. "He's the same way around the dressing room as he looks on the ice," Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. "He's a real calm- ing influence on people around him." Jones' personality on or off the ice hasn't changed since he was a teenager. In his first season as a No. 1 goalie in junior hockey in 2008- 09, Jones helped the Calgary Hitmen advance to the WHL's championship, as they won their first 12 playoff games be- fore they lost in the league final to Kelowna in six games. The following season, Jones was named the league's top goalie, as the Hitmen advanced to the Memorial Cup, junior hockey's season-ending cham- pionship tournament. "We weren't supposed to be that good, and it was be- cause of guys like Jonesy that we were so good," said Win- nipeg Jets defenseman Paul Postma, whose last season with the Hitmen was Jones' first as a No. 1. "The year after, they went to the Mem Cup, and again, I don't think they had any business be- ing there, but because of a guy like him, they made it." Jones will draw on some of that experience, and the experi- ence he has gained as a profes- sional to get ready for Thursday night. Most notably, he can look back at his time with the Kings during their run to the Stanley Cup in 2014. "Any time you get experience like that, you can use that to your advantage, for sure," Jones said. "I think just the speed and the intensity of the games. It's fun to play in those games. That's why you play is to play in these." The Sharks made the move near the trade deadline to bring in a capable backup to Jones in James Reimer, who mostly shined in his eight games with San Jose down the stretch. Should Jones struggle, the Sharks' coaching staff will have to make some decisions on whether to go to Reimer, who has started NHL playoff games before. "We're going to do what we've done all year," DeBoer said when asked about the goalie situation. "We're going to take it game to game, and we're going to give ourselves the best chance to win games." "I think everybody's going to be waiting to see how Jones re- acts and how he plays early in this series," NBC hockey analyst Jeremy Roenick said on a con- ference call this week. "Because he's playing against a team that's going to temper him of- fensively in the Kings." The only way to find out if Jones is ready, of course, is to watch the games. Whatever hap- pens, don't expect Jones to get flustered when he faces some adversity such as he did that night at Staples Center, when he went on to make 19 straight saves in a 5-1 Sharks win. NHL PLAYOFFS SHARKSGOALIEJONES READY FOR POSTSEASON NHATV.MEYER—BAYAREANEWSGROUP San Jose Sharks goaltender Martin Jones is set to make his first NHL playoff start for any team against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. CHICO The Red Bluff Lady Spartans softball team took an early lead Tuesday afternoon, going up 2-0 in the first against the Pleasant Valley Vikings, but couldn't keep the Vikings' bats quiet as the game went on. The Vikings scored 3 runs in the third and 2 more in the sixth inning for the 5-2 victory. Spartans got 6 hits and made no errors, but no individual stats were posted as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Spartans (6-4 overall, 1-2 league) are scheduled for a re- match with the Vikings (10-5 overall, 4-1 league) Friday in the Wolf Pack Invitational tourna- ment in Redding. CARDINALS 1, CENTRAL VALLEY 10/CARDINALS 2, CENTRAL VAL- LEY 4 The Corning Lady Car- dinals dropped both games of a home doubleheader Tuesday af- ternoon to the league leading Central Valley Falcons 10-1 in the first game, 4-2 in the second. As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday no individual stats had been posted for either game. The Cardinals (2-5 overall, 0-2 league) are scheduled to travel to Shasta Lake for a 4 p.m. re- match against the Falcons (9-1 overall, 2-0 league) today. BULLDOGS 2, CHESTER 12 The Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs lost big to the Chester Volcanoes Tuesday afternoon, 12-2. The Bulldogs plated 2 runs in the top of the first, but Chester answered with 4 of their own. The Volcanoes put up another 4 spot in the third inning and 2 each in the fourth and fifth for the lopsided win. As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday no individual stats had been posted for the game. The Bulldogs (4-7 overall, 0-2 league) are scheduled to host cross-county rivals the Mercy Warriors (2-5 overall, 0-1 league) at 4 p.m. Friday. The Warriors are fresh off a 14-3 win over Princeton Tuesday afternoon. SOFTBALL Lady Spartans fall to Pleasant Valley on road REDBLUFF The Los Molinos Bull- dogs golf team took a win Tues- day in a tournament at Oak Creek Golf Course with a team score of 264. The Bulldogs' Tanner Prest was third individually with a round of 42, behind second place Shane Rhodes of the Mercy Warriors with a round of 40. The top round of the day was a 38 turned in by Kevin Cummings of Paradise Ad- ventist. Mercy's Junior Grace shot a 45, good for fourth overall. For the Bulldogs, Perry Mathues had a 52, Adrian Madera a 53, Kyle Wood a 56, Valeria Gar- nica a 61 and Jasael Ruiz a 66. For the Warriors, Megan Ree- lander and Spencer Flynn each shot 57. The Bulldogs got 6 points for the win and now lead the overall standings with 18, ahead of Red- ding Christian with 5. Of the six teams represented in the tournament, only the Bulldogs were able to field a full team of six players. Warriorstennis The Mercy Warriors tennis team lost 9-0 at home April 8 and 7-2 on the road Tuesday to the Live Oak Lions. Mercy's T.J. Frase lost to Hugh Catbagan 6-3, 6-2 April 8, and Arthur Xiong and Raffie Ibarra were the only other two Warriors to win games, with one each in two sets. Frase and Xiong lost 8-4 in doubles play April 8 and Mason Gilchrist and Brandon Hu lost 8-2. On the road, Mercy's Conner Rooney beat Catbagan 6-1, 6-2 and Xiong lost to Haripaul Bhul- lar 6-0, 6-4. Chris Wood and An- thony Marquez each won two games in their losses and Frase won one. In doubles play Tuesday, Roony and Frase beat Batbagan and Thomas Rodriguez 8-4 and Gil- christ and Xiong lost a close set 8-6. Mercy is scheduled to host the Colusa Red Hawks at 3:30 p.m. to- day at Red Bluff High School for their final league match. GOLF/TENNIS Los Molinos takes win at Oak Creek tournament Mercytennisloses pair against Live Oak By Kristie Rieken The Associated Press HOUSTON James Harden scored 38 points and the Houston Rock- ets clinchedthefinalWesternCon- ference playoff spot with an easy 116-81 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. The Rockets never trailed and had a 64-44 lead at halftime be- hind 16 points from Harden and 10 each from Dwight Howard and Michael Beasley. They won their last three games to sneak into the playoffs after losing three of the previous four to fall behind Utah and into ninth place in the West. Houston will meet top-seed Golden State in the first round of the playoffs this weekend. BenMcLemorehad24pointsfor theKings,inwhatwaslikelycoach George Karl's final game with the teamamidreportsthathecouldbe fired as soon as Thursday. NBA Kings lose to Rockets in season finale SUSANVILLE The Corning Car- dinals baseball team managed just one hit Tuesday afternoon in a 4-1 loss to the Lassen Grizzlies on the road. The Grizzlies put up a run in the first and three more in the sec- ond, but it wasn't until the sixth inning the Cardinals got on the board with a run, when Brady Meeds crossed home plate to pre- vent the shutout. Trent Conoly went 1-2 and Devin Wunsch had a base on balls and a sacrifice bunt, going 1-3. Dustin Messmer went 1-2 and was hit by a pitch. Wyatt Haydon gave up 2 earned runs on 3 hits over six innings, with 5 strikeouts. The Cardinals (3-7 overall, 1-2 league) will have a rematch when they host the Grizzlies (10-6 over- all, 3-0 league) at 4 p.m. Friday in Corning. BULLDOGS6,CHESTER14 The Los Molinos Bulldogs lost on the road Tuesday to the Chester Volcanoes, 14-6. The Bulldogs' runs came 2 in the first, 3 in the third and an- other in the fourth innings, but Chester jumped out to an early 9-2 lead by the end of the second and the deficit would prove too much to overcome. As of 4 p.m. Wednesday no in- dividual stats had been posted for the game. The Bulldogs (6-3 overall, 2-1 league) are scheduled to host cross-county rivals the Mercy Warriors (2-7 overall, 1-1 league) at 4 p.m. Friday. Other games The Red Bluff Spartans (12-5 overall, 4-2 league) are scheduled to host the Willows Honkers (7- 10 overall, 0-2 league) at 6 p.m. today. BASEBALL Cardinalsheldtoonehitinloss Bulldogs struggle on the road in Chester Cardinals drop pair, Bulldogs lose to Chester STANLEYCUPPLAYOFFS SHARKS AT LOS ANGELES When: Thursday, 7:30p.m. TV: CSN-CA TUNEIN SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, April 14, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1