Kings power through Ducks in special teams showcase

LOS ANGELES – Special teams remain a thorn in the Anaheim Ducks side, and those deficiencies were exposed in stark contrast in the final round of the Freeway Face-Off.

The Los Angeles Kings scored three power play goals on six extra-man opportunities, while the Ducks went 0-for-4 on the power play in a 6-1 loss at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

The Kings won three of four rivalry meetings this season with one shootout loss.

“The special teams are a big part, but I think just the battle level, how they battle and work,” Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba said on the difference in levels between the Ducks and Kings. “I think that’s something we can continue to get better at, and I think it has gotten better, but there’s still another level we gotta get to.”

Cutter Gauthier scored his 20th goal of the season in the second period, his fifth goal in three games. Lukáš Dostál made 23 saves.

“It's cool, but not the end goal here,” Gauthier said on his 20-goal rookie campaign. “Came to win games and it was an unfortunate game for us. I thought we competed hard.”

Kevin Fiala scored twice on the power play, and Quinton Byfield scored on the power play on the game’s first shot. Anze Kopitar and Alex Laferriere scored in the second period, and Jordan Spence capped the game in the third.

Adrian Kempe and Andrei Kuzmenko each recorded three assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves.

The Ducks’ league-worst power play (12.2%) are scoreless on its last 11 power plays in its last five games. Anaheim has just two power play goals on its last 34 attempts and three goals on its last 44 attempts.

Los Angeles, just the 28th-ranked power play in the NHL, went 3-for-6 on with the extra man, as the Ducks faced six opposing power plays for the third consecutive game.

Ducks coach Greg Cronin said the penalty parade again disrupted any chance at getting into rhythm with the game.

“There’s guys sitting there forever on the bench, and the worst thing is it's two nights in a row,” Cronin said. “The poor guys that are killing penalties are on the ice for a long time, and the guys that aren't killing penalties are sitting there. Your chemistry gets all fumbled. It does play a big role.”

Anaheim (35-36-8, 78 points) fell back one game below .500 with three games remaining. The Ducks have not been above .500 since March 4.

The Ducks will host their home finale on Sunday against Colorado before a season-ending back-to-back in Minnesota and Winnipeg on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“It's pretty far back corner, if that's the corner we're trying to turn,” Trouba said on the Ducks’ 19-point standings improvement from last season. “I think there's a lot more to be had and a lot more that we can strive for.”

Los Angeles (45-24-9, 99 points) inched closer to clinching home-ice advantage in the first round with a four-point advantage over Edmonton and stayed barely alive in the Pacific Division title race six points behind Vegas.

The Kings, who earned their league-best 30th home victory, have four games to play and will host Colorado on Saturday.

“These are the games we've got to get comfortable playing in,” Cronin said. “You can measure yourself, your compete level, your decisions with the puck and all those things that I think are part of a playoff environment.

“Win, lose or draw, it's critical that these young kids, tonight we had 11 kids that were born in 2000 and younger, and they're in these games, and it's a different game. It's a different pace, it's a different intensity to it, it's a different battle level to it, so it's critical that they go through these types of games. It's gonna help in the long run.”

Anaheim put Los Angeles on the power play just 1:03 into the game with a trip from Radko Gudas, and the Kings went straight to work.

On the first Kings shot of the game 23 seconds into the power play, Quinton Byfield found the soft middle of the Ducks penalty kill box, and Andrei Kuzmenko fed the wide-open Byfield for the slot one-timer and the lead, 1-0.

The first period was defined by man-advantages, as the Kings went without a shot on their second power play and the Ducks earned three power plays. Anaheim generated just four power play shots in the first period and didn’t score on the 1:21 of carry-over power play time to open the second period.

Anaheim equalized early in the second, as Leo Carlsson drove the slot and fed Gauthier for the one-timer, 1-1.

However, the Kings retook the lead just 31 seconds later, as Anze Kopitar lightly deflected a shot to fool a committed Dostál as the puck slowly slid the other direction, 2-1.

Los Angeles went two-for-two on power play shots, scoring on the only shot of their next man-advantage. Kevin Fiala nailed a one-timer from Adrian Kempe straight through Dostál, 3-1.

After the Ducks and Kings both failed to generate anything on another power play, Los Angeles got the referee’s benefit again for their fourth goal of the game.

Alex Laferriere seemingly knocked a puck down with a high stick, and after corralling the puck and whiffing on the initial shot between several Ducks defenders, his backhand attempt found its way in, 4-1.

Anaheim challenged the play for the high stick, but the referees upheld the call on review.

Los Angeles couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing delay-of-game penalty.

“We didn't hesitate one second,” Cronin said of the challenge. “I don't know what the league looks at. I can't speak for what they're reviewing, but from what I saw, it was a clear high stick. We had one at home, a few games back, and I thought the one here was higher than the one at home.”

The Kings opened the third period with their sixth power play of the game with a Ducks penalty at the second-period buzzer, and LA got another one.

Fiala rocketed another power-play one-timer by Dostál, who got slightly turned on contact by Kempe but not enough for a challenge or a call, for a 5-1 Kings lead.

Jordan Spence netted the Kings’ sixth goal as a point shot found its way through traffic with 10 minutes remaining.

Game Notes:

• Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba returned to the line-up after missing three games due to a lower-body injury.

• Goaltender John Gibson missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury and is unlikely to return this season.

• Anaheim forward Brett Leason and defenseman Oliver Kylington were healthy scratches.