In Los Angeles Saturday, the Kings’ Dustin Brown saved the night for LA as he scored with less than a minute left in regulation to force overtime and eventually a shootout before the Kings prevailed, 2-1.
Jonathan Quick made 25 saves to end a personal six-game skid and Kings’ three-game slide.
“Confidence is a funny thing. When things are going great, you feel like you can beat anybody, but I think it’s times like these that build the character of a group for the long term,” Brown said after the win.
LA improved to 13-8-3 with the win.
Trevor Lewis scored the game-winner in the skills competition.
“It’s no secret, we’ve been struggling in here a little bit lately, and it’s always nice to get a home win right before you go,” Lewis said.
Nick Ritchie scored the Ducks goal in regulation.
“It was a great game,” Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa said. “It was physical, it had a little bit of everything. You could tell that we wanted this one, and you win it in the shootout or in overtime, you feel like a million bucks. If you lose, you feel like a zero.”
[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Kings highlights]
Ryan Miller made 33 saves in the loss as the Ducks dropped to 10-9-4.
“Credit to the guys that are here, it’s not an easy task to go out and play in situations maybe that they have never been in their life in the NHL and playing that high in the lineup,” Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said. “Nick Ritchie, he played 21 minutes of ice time. That’s the first time he ever would have played 21 minutes in the NHL. He’s on power play, he’s on penalty kill, he was a physical force.
“We have some growth taking place too in some young players, and that’s been very, very enlightening. And we’re real pleased with that, but points are what is most important.”
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