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 Defenseman Alec Martinez scored a tiebreaking, first-period goal,
and goaltender Jonathan Quick made sure it stood up, giving the
Kings a 3-1 victory over the Ducks before a sellout crowd of 17,281
at Honda Center on Monday night.
Los Angeles heads home to Staples Center with a 2-0 lead in the
best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.
"It doesn't even feel like being on the road," Kings coach Darryl
Sutter said. "We played really good in this building during the
regular season. It was the same for us tonight."
The Kings ran their winning streak to six, including their rally
from a 3-0 series deficit in the opening round of the playoffs
against the San Jose Sharks. Game 3 is Thursday at Staples Center.
Quick gave up an early power-play goal to Anaheim left winger
Patrick Maroon but stonewalled the Ducks from that point on.
"He was pretty good tonight, but if you don't get traffic in front
of him and you don't go to the net, you're not going to score,"
Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "If he can see everything, he's
going to stop it."
Quick stopped 36 shots, while Ducks netminder Jonas Hiller finished
with 14 saves.
"He was good tonight," Sutter said of his goalie. "He was the best
player on the ice."
Anaheim was the aggressor on offense for much of the contest,
outshooting Los Angeles 27-9 over the final two periods, including a
15-4 advantage in the third, but had nothing to show for it.
"I'm ticked off right now," Anaheim center Ryan Getzlaf said. "We're
in playoff time right now. There are no excuses for anything. We
have to be better, I have to be better, and I expect our group to
respond."
The Ducks will be forced to dig themselves out a hole at Staples or
face elimination.
"All we can control is us," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. "I'm
sure they think they've played two good games and they've kind of
got unlucky bounces. We're fine with that. We're up 2-0, and we're
excited to go back to Staples and win a game there."
Center Anze Kopitar extended his points streak to nine games with an
assist on right winger Marian Gaborik's first-period goal. Kopitar,
who had three assists in Los Angeles' 3-2 overtime win in the series
opener Saturday, has 14 points (four goals, nine assists) in the
playoffs.
Gaborik, whom the Kings obtained from the Columbus Blue Jackets on
March 5, wasted little time putting the Kings on the board, taking a
pass from Kopitar and drilling a shot past Hiller for a 1-0 lead
just 34 seconds into the game. It was Gaborik's sixth goal of the
playoffs and his third in two games against the Ducks.
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"That's not the start that we expect of our group, especially up
front," Getzlaf said. "That's not the way we can start a hockey
game. That's on us. We tried to work and get back at it after that.
You can't sulk on those things. We were able to respond pretty
quickly after that."
Maroon's wrist shot tied the score on a power-play goal at 9:40 of
the first, but the Ducks couldn't get anything else past Quick.
"It's a whole team effort," Doughty said. "(Quick) comes up with big
saves when he needs to, and that's what great goalies do."
The Kings took the lead when Martinez ripped a shot by Hiller for a
2-1 advantage with 7:53 remaining in the opening period. Martinez
scored a goal for the second straight game.
Left winger Dwight King added an empty-net goal with 58 seconds
remaining.
NOTES: An assist on a goal by LW Patrick Maroon gave Ducks C Ryan
Getzlaf eight points in the past six games. ... Los Angeles D Robyn
Regehr, who was hurt on a first-period hit in Game 1 by Anaheim RW
Teemu Selanne, was scratched from Monday's contest. D Jeff Schultz,
who made his debut, replaced Regehr. ... Kings D Willie Mitchell
missed his third consecutive game with an undisclosed injury.
Mitchell was injured in Game 6 of the opening-round series against
the San Jose Sharks. ... The Kings recalled C Colin Fraser, D Andrew
Bodnarchuk, D Andrew Campbell, D Brayden McNabb, RW Linden Vey and G
J.F. Berube from AHL Manchester on Sunday. ... Game 4 will be played
Saturday at Staples Center before the series returns to Anaheim for
Game 5 on May 12, if necessary.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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