Kings Top Ducks, 3-2, After 9 Shootout Frames
ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com/AP) — Martin Jones made 26 saves and stopped all eight shootout attempts to win his NHL debut, and Dwight King scored the only shootout goal Tuesday night in the Los Angeles Kings' 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
Jonas Hiller made a season-high 49 saves and stopped Los Angeles' first seven shootout attempts, but King scored on a wrist shot before Jones stopped Mathieu Perreault to end the first Freeway Faceoff of the season.
Jeff Carter and captain Dustin Brown scored for the Kings, who have earned a point in 13 of their last 14 games.
Corey Perry and captain Ryan Getzlaf scored for the Ducks, still the only NHL team that hasn't lost in regulation at home. Anaheim is 10-0-2 at Honda Center, becoming just the third team to go unbeaten in its first 12 home games since the implementation of the shootout in 2005.
Southern California's two NHL teams kicked off their season series with an entertaining game befitting two clubs entering the night with their best combined record (35-14-8) in the two-decade, 113-game history of this head-to-head rivalry.
Perry scored a tiebreaking power-play goal for Anaheim early in the third period, but Brown tied it for Los Angeles a few minutes later. Both teams had fruitless power plays during a hair-raising overtime, including a two-man advantage for Anaheim.
Hiller finished two saves shy of his career high set in December 2008, and Getzlaf scored his eighth goal in 11 games. It wasn't enough to beat Jones, who was stellar in his first NHL shootout.
Jones has spent nearly three weeks as the backup goalie to Ben Scrivens, who started the Kings' last 10 games after Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Quick went down with a groin injury. Scrivens has been one of the NHL's best netminders in Quick's absence, going 6-1-3 with a 1.47 goals-against average and keeping Jones out of the crease until this back-to-back set.
The local rivals finally got their season series underway in front of a raucous bipartisan crowd. The 2012 Stanley Cup champion Kings and the 2013 Pacific Division champion Ducks are both serious title contenders again this year, and they'll meet at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 25 for a landmark outdoor game.
Jones didn't face his first NHL shot until roughly halfway through the scoreless first period, diving to stop a close-range chance for Saku Koivu.
Los Angeles scored when Carter intercepted an ill-advised pass from Getzlaf to Penner in the Ducks' defensive zone, beating Hiller with a snap shot for his second goal in five games since returning from injury.
Just 46 seconds later, Getzlaf batted home the rebound of rookie Hampus Lindholm's shot for his 14th goal. Getzlaf has scored a point in his last 11 games, his first such string longer than 10 games in four years.
Anaheim killed off another Kings power play before getting the 16th goal of the season from Perry, who was left unchecked when he roofed a backhand off a pass from Penner.
But just 3:29 later, Jarret Stoll won a faceoff to Brown, whose heavy shot escaped Hiller's glove and trickled into Anaheim's net. The goal was Brown's first in seven games, just his second in 14 games.
Los Angeles is in an 0-for-25 power-play slump over the past seven games.
The shootout lasted for nine scoreless frames before King's shot got past Hiller.
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