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).
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