Ducks withstand late rally, defeat Kings 3-2 in Game 3
The Anaheim Ducks withstood a furious Los Angeles Kings rally and an injury to starting goaltender Frederik Andersen in Game 3 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series Thursday night, defeating the Kings 3-2 for their first win of the series.
The Ducks were outshot by a wide margin at even-strength, but power-play goals from Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry and a late game-winner from an unlikely source in Ben Lovejoy, provided the Ducks with the offense they needed to narrow Los Angeles' series lead to 2-1.
Mike Richards and Jeff Carter scored the goals for Los Angeles.
Game 4 goes Saturday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Star performer
How about the Ducks' power-play?
The Anaheim Ducks were massively outshot at even-strength in Game 3, but managed to win thanks to some stellar work by goaltenders Frederik Andersen and Jonas Hiller, and the offensive contributions of their power-play.
With Sami Vatanen keying the action from the point along with Cam Fowler, the Ducks' new-look power-play gave Anaheim new life in this series. First, Ducks winger Corey Perry opened the scoring with a lovely finish of a superb Patrick Maroon pass in the first period - a power-play goal. Then Teemu Selanne scored the critical go-ahead goal, once again on the power-play, late in the second period:
Turning point
Ducks defenseman Ben Lovejoy gave the Ducks a late 3-1 lead with this zinger of a wrist shot. The Kings made it close with a late Richards goal, so this one ultimately held up as the game-winner:
[By @myregularface, courtesy NBCSN]
Highlight reel
Kings defender Drew Doughty took a hard hit, and went head over skates into the Ducks bench. But the end result was laughs all around:
Quote of the Night
Andersen got the start, before going down with an injury and when asked about the decision after the game, Hiller was extremely open about his feelings.
Gotta love Jonas Hiller's honesty: "Well ... yeah. I was expecting to play."
— Curtis Zupke (@curtiszupke) May 9, 2014
Series at a glance
Game 1: Kings 3, Ducks 2 (OT) (Kings lead 1-0)
Game 2: Kings 2, Ducks 1 (Kings lead 2-0)
Game 3: Ducks 3, Kings 2 (Kings lead 2-1)
Game 4: Saturday, May 10 - TBD
Game 5*: Monday, May 12 -TBD
Game 6*: Wednesday, May 14 - TBD
Game 7*: Friday, May 16 - TBD