Los Angeles Kings win back-to-back meetings over Anaheim Ducks 5-3 -NHL Match Update
Los Angeles Kings showed dominance in their second straight matchup with the Anaheim Ducks, only a day after their last meeting in which the Kings edged the Ducks, 2-1, in a shootout, but this time, it was a far better performance as the Kings came into
Anaheim as winners and left the same way, 5-3, Thursday night, November 17, 2011, at the sold-out Honda Center in Anaheim, California, United States.
The Kings moved up to the third number spot in the Western Conference with 23 points, but will have to continue winning to retain the position as the Nashville Predators have also tied them with 23.
Anaheim on the other hand, continues to struggle as the Ducks have now fallen down to the 13th number spot in the West and are in a tough situation as the Calgary Flames can potentially take them over by winning their next matchup for another
two points, being down just by one with 15.
"We knew these two games were going to be huge for us", said LA forward Simon Gagne, who was formerly on the Tampa Bay Lightning. "We're really happy with what we did and where we've come from already this season. We knew what we did in the first 10 games
wasn't enough."
Former Philadelphia Flyers player, Mike Richards, opened the scoring 52 seconds into the second period for his sixth of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season followed closely by Anaheim’s, Andrew Cogliano, to level the match.
Gagne got a breakaway opportunity at the 7:28 mark when the Los Angeles Kings were shorthanded due to Slava Voynov being sent to the benches for hooking with a minor penalty.
Voynov came out strong in the third period and added another for LA to make the tie-breaker on an early power play opportunity but as Corey Perry and Andrew Cogliano potted two straight for Anaheim after that, it looked as if the Ducks had finally decided
to take over by levelling the contest with less than seven minutes to go.
LA’s top forward, Anze Kopitar, made sure the Kings did not go down without a fight and fired off at the 16:59 mark, allowing the visitors to take the lead once again while Richards scored his second of the night shorthanded to secure the match in their
favour.
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