Anaheim Ducks Beat The Los Angeles Kings 4-2
ANAHEIM (AP) — Corey Perry got his ninth career hat trick and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Sunday night to climb within two points of their Southern California rivals for the Pacific Division lead.
The Ducks trailed the Kings by 15 points on Jan. 2, but since then, Anaheim has gone 19-4-1 and Los Angeles 12-10-2. The Kings have a game in hand on Anaheim with 21 games remaining on their schedule, including two more showdowns with the Ducks.
David Perron had one of three power-play goals for Anaheim — on an assist from Perry — and John Gibson made 27 saves to help the Ducks win their eighth in a row and 15th in 17 games. They have won their last nine games against division opponents and are 10-1-2 against the Kings since the start of the 2013-14 season.
Alec Martinez and Tanner Pearson scored for Los Angeles and Jonathan Quick stopped 25 shots. The loss ended the Kings' four-game winning streak.
Perry's third goal and 26th of the season came at 1:27 of the third when he banked his own rebound past Quick's pads for a 3-2 lead. His hat trick was Anaheim's first since Jan. 14, 2015, when Perry scored three against Toronto at Honda Center.
The Kings grabbed a 2-1 lead at 9:52 of the second period when the puck took a weird bounce off the end boards on an attempted clearing pass by defenseman Simon Despres and ended up on Pearson's stick. Gibson was caught napping while Pearson beat him to the stick side for his 11th goal.
Perry tied it at 17:57 of the second, playing a carom off the end boards after an errant 35-foot wrist shot by Cam Fowler and stuffing the puck between Quick's stick and the left post while Jeff Carter was serving a hooking penalty.
The Ducks opened the scoring at 16:48 of the first, extending their streak to eight straight games with a power-play goal while Nick Shore was serving an interference penalty. Perry got the puck in the right circle from Sami Vatanen and moved in on Quick before flipping the puck over his glove.
Despres was off for tripping Dustin Brown when the Kings tied it at 19:01 of the first. Martinez beat Gibson to the glove side with a 40-foot slap shot for his eighth of the season after defense partner Drew Doughty faked a shot from the high slot and found Martinez open at the top of the left circle.
The Ducks have won their last seven games at Honda Center since the Kings beat them 3-2 on Jan. 17.
The Ducks have won three straight division titles. The Kings haven't finished first in their division since the 1990-91 season under coach Tom Webster.
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