Anaheim Ducks defeat the LA Kings at Staples Center 4-2 in the So Cal showdown- February 2016

February 5, 2016March 16, 2016 todd elliot

The Kings took on their rival Anaheim Ducks at the Staples Center in front of a sell out crowd. The Ducks have climbed out of last place to third behind the San Jose and LA. Ryan Getzlaf started the scoring with his 4^th goal of the season on a 2-1 break off a turnover by Vincent Lecavalier. Very surprising that Getzlaf only has four goals all season. The Ducks made it 2-0 as Getzlaf made a nice pass in front and newly acquired David Perron scored while sliding into the net. Perron had a goal and 2 assists and was named #1 star of the game. After Ryan Garbutt scored into the upper corner, Jonathan Quick was pulled in favor of Jhonas Enroth, who saved 14 of 15 shots the rest of the game.

The Kings got deflection for Tyler Toffoli to make it 3-1. It looked like the tide was turning and then a no call as Kopitar got checked hard into the boards. Lucic came for support but got a penalty for roughing and the Ducks made it 4-1 on a blast from … Anaheim goalie and all star Jonathon Gibson was solid throughout. The Ducks dominated the face offs winning over 60 % and getting to most of the loose pucks even though LA outhit the visitors almost 2-1. Plus some bad penalties by the home team at key points pretty much burried them. More at www.lakings.com

Post game interviews:

Toffoli said after the game. “We didn’t play the way we wanted to play and turned too many pucks over. We were down 2-0 ten minutes into the game and it was tough to come back. We couldn’t find a way to get more offense. We have a big road trip coming up”. I asked if he could credit Anaheim with anything and he said, “ They played the way they wanted. They got us to turn pucks over and makes them a good hockey team.”

Kyle Clifford said, “We turned the puck over too much. They came out ready to play and we didn’t. This wasn’t the result we were looking for.”

Kings Coach Darryl Sutter:

Responding if his players were ready- “Yup, I think their centermen dominated our centermen. I think we were ready, but not quite ready for that.”

Responding to pulling Quick- “There’s a chance a goalie gets pulled once in a while. Even the Anaheim Ducks pull their goalie once in a while.”

Responding to Perron in the lineup- “It was his first game [last time the Kings played them]. They’re a good hockey club. They’re the team to beat. Just ask most of the people in this room. They’re supposed to win the Stanley Cup; they’re supposed to win the division. We’ve got to look at it like we are in a series with them and we are 1-1. It’s the same game as the one in Anaheim last week, and it was 3-1 at one point. It’s two teams who don’t normally give up much.”

Getzlaf said, “We have been playing that smothering type of hockey and being stingy in our zone. I have been trying to shoot the puck more and my shot selection gets poor if I take too many. I am trying to pick my spots. We made some mistakes coming out of training camp and it has taken time to mesh together.” I asked Getzlaf about his lack of scoring this year and he said, “ If I could put my finger on it, I would have changed it a long time ago. and this is a tough league to play in and everybody is paying attention to you. I start squeezing it a bit and it is tough to get yourself out of a rut. I have been here for 10 yrs. ”. I then asked him how big of a win it was. He said, “This was big and we had to have that approach with these big 3 games.”

Kessler said playing Kopitar’s line. “We did a great job frustrating him and his line. We want results now. We need to re-establish our identity and defense is it for us. They had nothing tonight and we did a great job. I asked if they were peaking now and how big this win was and he said, “ I think we still have more to go on a slope. This is a big win and a 4 point game and establish ourselves in the playoff race. We placed the puck good and we gave them nothing and they took penalties without the discipline.

Coach Boudreau, “Sometimes you have a feeling the way the guys practice and our guys were really into the game today. When Getzlaf scored, everyone was very happy on the bench. The rest of the team follows suit.” I asked what made the difference in the game tonight and he said, “ Kessler’s line has done a great job checking and on every line lately. The last couple games he was really on his game. We worked hard and they outhit us but we played the right way. We did the right things at the right time and defended really well and did not give them very much. It gave us opportunities to score and that is what we did.”.