LOS ANGELES — Battling to a shootout in the latest installment of the Freeway Faceoff, the Kings and the Ducks relied on special teams to generate offense Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Tied 2-2 after regulation and overtime after trading a trio of power-play goals and a shorthanded effort, the Kings secured two points against their Southern California rival with shootout conversions from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kevin Fiala, sending the Ducks back to Orange County with a deserved point for their efforts.
The contest was more of a firefight than the scoreboard indicated.
At the end of regulation, the Kings doubled up the Ducks with shots on goal, 48 to 24, adding two more during the extra five minute period boosted by a career high 10 shots from defenseman Matt Roy. The Kings’ defensive group tallied 21 attempts.
“There’s an expression: one shot equals two if it goes on net,” said Ducks head coach Greg Cronin. “There’s an opportunity for a rebound. I think L.A. was playing with that mentality. I don’t know, for whatever reason we don’t want to do it.”
However, the King’s futility at even strength for the second game in a row allowed the Ducks to hang around.
Limited two nights ago by the Nashville Predators to 14 combined shots through the first two periods, the Kings unleashed 19 on Ducks goalkeeper John Gibson during the opening 20 minutes.
“In the Nashville game we didn’t generate a lot and we didn’t get inside,” said Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller. “Tonight, you know you have that many opportunities, you throw the puck there, we were inside, again we faced an extremely hot goaltender. We’ll take that offensively. We’re not going to overthink that one.”
The Ducks also had dangerous chances among 11 first-period attempts, at times forcing Kings’ netminder David Rittich into uncomfortable scrambling situations.
Languishing second to last in the Pacific Division, the visitor’s broke through on the power-play against the best penalty killing unit in the NHL when Jakob Silfverberg scored his sixth of the year at 9:33.
His attempt between Rittich’s legs was partially blocked yet snuck inside the far post.
The goal was the first penalty kill concession in seven home games for the Kings, who have allowed just 10 on the power-play in 74 chances dating back to Jan. 1.
Rittich was fortunate to give up just the one in the first period. The Ducks Isac Lundestrom could not execute on a wraparound and Leo Carlsson, playing his first Freeway Faceoff in enemy territory, mishandled a good look at a backhand.
The Kings (29-17-10, 68 points) leveled the score when Fiala notched a power-play goal with a snapshot from the left circle off assists by Drew Doughty and Adrian Kempe, who extended his points streak against the Ducks to 10 games. An assist later in the game made Kempe the Kings first 50-point scorer this season.
At 14:23, Fiala’s third straight game with a finish on the power-play gave him 16 goals on the season.
“I thought that was one of Kevin’s better games of the year in the O-Zone,” Hiller said. “He looked like himself.”
Special teams scoring persisted into the second. So did the game’s intensity, which led to several mix-ups and minor penalties for roughing.
Down a man after Frank Vatrano tussled with Brandt Clarke, the Ducks retook the lead with a shorthanded 2-on-1 that Sam Carrick jammed in for his eighth of the season on Adam Henrique’s 21st assist at 9:08.
Scoring their second power-play goal of the night, the Kings made the Ducks (20-23-2, 42 points) pay for a tripping call against Alex Killorn when Doughty’s 13th of the season beat Gibson on a low wrist shot through traffic at 14:24.
The final period netted nothing as the Kings continued to pepper Gibson, who made 48 saves to keep the Ducks alive. Two of those saves came within 30 seconds of each other late in the third period: first with an outstretched right leg to deny a wraparound by Brandt Clarke and then an alert save off his blocker against Phillip Danault.
“Gibby was great,” said Cronin, who credited the Kings with picking up their energy later in the game. “He made huge saves, particularly that wrap-around there late in the third period. When he’s good he’s really good.”
The result gives the Kings eight straight wins against the Ducks, outscoring them 32-15 in that span.
The Ducks conclude the seventh of their 11 back-to-back games this season at home on Sunday versus Nashville. And the Kings head on the road for three straight against Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.