Captain Joe Thornton scored 2:22 into overtime as the San Jose Sharks advanced to the Western Conference semifinals with a 4-3 road victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday in Game 6 of the quarterfinal series.

Defenseman Jason Demers, Kyle Wellwood and Dany Heatley also tallied for second-seeded San Jose, which will wait on the result of Tuesday's Game 7 pitting the Presidents' Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.

Should the eighth-seeded Blackhawks win on Tuesday, they will face the Pacific Division champions in the semifinals. Should the top-seeded Canucks emerge victorious on Tuesday, the Sharks would face the Central Division champion Detroit Red Wings in the following round.

Antti Niemi, who was pulled after permitting three goals on four shots in Game 5, turned aside 26 shots in this one.

After the Sharks killed off Jamie McGinn's five-minute charging penalty which carried into overtime, San Jose turned defense into offense. Thornton collected a loose puck after Patrick Marleau's centering feed caromed off a defenseman's skate and fired the puck past Jonathan Quick to end the series.

Justin Williams and rookie Trevor Lewis netted power-play goals and Ryan Smyth scored just 18 seconds into the third period for seventh-seeded Los Angeles.

Quick finished with 31 saves in a losing effort.