Friday, May 09, 2014
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Ducks Cut Kings Series Lead To 2-1

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[May 09, 2014]  LOS ANGELES -- After dropping the first two games at home of their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series with the Los Angeles Kings earlier in the week, Anaheim Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau hinted of changes to his lineup for Game 3 as the series moved to Staples Center. The biggest of those decisions was inserting goaltender Fredrick Anderson in place of Jonas Hiller, who played well but lost the first two games of the series.

Anderson was strong before leaving late in the third with an injury with a 2-1 lead. Hiller and the Ducks hung on for a 3-2 victory, cutting the Kings series lead to 2-1.

"It can't get much worse than sitting on the bench for 50 minutes and then suddenly being put in there in a 2-1 game," Hiller said. "You have to focus and just stop pucks. I was happy it worked out and we were able to get the win."

Anaheim opened the scoring early in the first period after Kings forward Trevor Lewis was whistled for interference at 3:30 of the first period. Center Ryan Getzlaf shot the puck down low to linemate Patrick Maroon, who kicked it out to right winger Corey Perry in front of Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick. In the blink of an eye, Perry put the puck in the back of net for his third goal of the postseason.

In the second period the Kings used almost the exact same moves on a power play of their own to tie the game. Center Anze Kopitar, playing along the boards, passed the puck down low to waiting winger Marian Gaborik, who pushed it out front to forward Jeff Carter. Just like Perry the period before, Carter converted.
 

The Ducks got another power play goal in the second period when center Nick Bonino set up right winger Teemu Selanne, who shoveled the puck past Quick.

"Since Game 6 against Dallas, he seems like he's found the fountain of youth. I hope that keeps going," Boudreau said. "The reason Teemu has almost 700 goals is because he goes to the net and he stops."

Not surprisingly, Kings coach Darryl Sutter had a different take on the play.

"We needed to make a better play there," he explained.

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty was on the wrong end of things late in the third period. As he tried to make too many moves with the puck, Anaheim grabbed it for an outnumbered attack and defenseman Ben Lovejoy scored to make it 3-1.

"It plants a seed of doubt in their minds, and that's what we wanted to do," Lovejoy said.

Boudreau had to make a few unexpected roster changes midway through the final frame. Left winger Matt Beleskey was hit hard by Kings center Dustin Brown and didn't return to the game. Moments later, Anderson was injured and went to the Ducks locker room, forcing Hiller into the crease to finish things out.

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"Against a skilled team, we gave them too many odd zone rushes. That's not our game," said Kings center Jarret Stoll. "(Hiller) has had some easy games against us all year and that needs to change."

A late goal by Kings center Mike Richards made it 3-2 on the scoreboard.

"The Ducks played harder than us tonight, they executed better," Richards said. "They were a desperate team and they showed up. We know what it's like to be in that position, and if the other team is more desperate than we are, they are probably going to have more success.

"It wasn't our best effort, or our best performance anyway, we were loose on some of our passes and just weren't moving the puck crisp enough and they capitalized on the two power play goals I think, and a little bit of a breakdown in third. It's 1-1 game, we have to learn from it and get better and match their desperation next game."

NOTES: With D Robyn Regehr and D Willie Mitchell still sidelined, Kings coach Darryl Sutter had D Jeff Schultz back on the blue line for the second straight game. ... C Ryan Getzlaf's assist in the first period gave him at least one point in all three games of the series. He leads the Ducks with four points in the series. ... Although the Ducks scored in the first period of all three games in the series, the first intermission was the first time that Anaheim went to the locker room with a lead. ... With a first-period assist, Ducks LW Patrick Maroon is on a six-game point streak. He is the first NHL rookie with a postseason point streak of at least six games since Warren Rychel of the Kings in the 1993 playoffs (also six games, 4-5-9).

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

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