Ducks vs. Kings

ANAHEIM -- The stories about a top young goaltender as he ascends to the NHL can often become like fishing tales.

Everyone who ever saw Patrick Roy or Tom Barrasso or John Gibson in his youth has a story about him stopping 60 shots and winning a game his team had no business winning.

Gibson's NHL career is four games old. His resume as an amateur and young professional is prodigious, and the fishing stories have already started.

LOS ANGELES -- Anaheim Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau made a very bold goaltending decision Saturday night, and the other 18 skaters on his team showed their support of the move with their play on the ice.

Boudreau tabbed 20-year-old rookie John Gibson, he of the three career NHL games, to start the most important game of the 2013-14 season for the Ducks to date. They responded with a committed defensive effort.

The Ducks didn't have the puck nearly enough to ensure long-term success, but for one night they befuddled the Los Angeles Kings in a 2-0 victory by clogging shooting lanes and lightening the load for the young goaltender, who made 28 saves.

"I'm sure those guys were frustrated," Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said. "They put a pretty good push on in the third. I thought we did a good job of limiting their really quality scoring chances. I thought [Gibson] could see most of the pucks and they were from the perimeter, but he came up huge on a number of occasions too. We can do a little bit better job in front of him, but he did some really key saves tonight and that's why we were able to win."

LOS ANGELES -- Rookie Martin Jones replaced Jonathan Quick in goal for the Los Angeles Kings to start the second period of Game 4 of their Western Conference Second Round series against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.

Quick allowed two goals on 11 shots in the first period, which ended with the Ducks leading 2-0. and there was no indication that he sustained an injury. Quick was sitting on the bench with a baseball hat on at the start of the second period.

With 20-year-old John Gibson starting for the Anaheim Ducks, each team has a rookie goaltender in the game.

LOS ANGELES -- Three seasons ago, the Anaheim Ducks were one of the most top-heavy teams in the NHL.

The Ducks had Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Bobby Ryan, Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu up front, but the depth beyond that group was a mess for much of the 2011-12 season. There were 10 forwards who played at least 25 games and scored between zero and seven goals.

Getzlaf also had his worst season, finishing with 11 goals. Andrew Cogliano was fourth on the Ducks  with 13. The defense behind Francois Beauchemin was young, suspect, or both.

That was the season Randy Carlyle was fired and Bruce Boudreau was hired. Since then, the Ducks have evolved into one of the deepest teams in the League, and that's a big reason they finished with the most points in the Western Conference in 2013-14.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Kings didn't use a conventional method to win their Western Conference First Round series; instead, they became the fourth team in NHL history to erase a 3-0 series deficit and win a best-of-7.

So why shouldn't their second-round series against the Anaheim Ducks become as drawn out?

That reality set in a day after the Ducks held on for a 3-2 win in Game 3, cutting its deficit in this series to 2-1. Anaheim can get even by winning Game 4 on Saturday at Staples Center (9:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, RDS, TSN).

"Going into the series, you knew it was going to be a highly competitive environment," Kings defenseman Alec Martinez said. "They had 116 points this year, and I think they scored over 260-some goals. We knew it was going to be a battle, and it has been."

ANAHEIM -- Hockey coaches are acutely aware of time because their routine is based on practices, meetings and various times for puck drop. The clock seems to find Bruce Boudreau more often than other coaches, though.

More than usual, when Boudreau glances at the clock, it happens to be 9:11 p.m. or 9:11 a.m., and it triggers him back to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He was coaching the Manchester Monarchs, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, and he lost friends Garnet “Ace” Bailey and Mark Bavis, scouts in the organization.

“The one thing I noticed is that, when I look at the time, it’s 9:11 more than I ever noticed before,” Boudreau said. “It seems like it comes up an awful lot more than it doesn’t.”

LOS ANGELES -- If there were a hockey equivalent of the Rolaids Relief Man Award, Jonas Hiller would have a pretty strong case to win it.

Frederik Andersen was a surprise starter in goal for the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of this Western Conference Second Round series -- but for the second time in four games, Hiller earned a victory in relief. Andersen was injured midway through the third period Thursday and Hiller stopped seven of eight shots in Anaheim's 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.

Rookie goaltender Frederik Andersen left Game 3 of the Anaheim Ducks' Western Conference Second Round series against the Los Angeles Kings midway through the third period with a lower-body injury and did not return.

Coach Bruce Boudreau said Andersen is day-to-day with a lower-body injury

For additional insight into the Stanley Cup Playoff series between the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, NHL.com has enlisted the help of former NHL coach Perry Pearn to break down the action. Pearn will be checking in throughout the series.

Pearn has spent the past 18 seasons as an assistant coach in the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and a second tenure with the Jets in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

LOS ANGELES -- The Anaheim Ducks need to find some solutions after scoring three times in two games and falling behind 2-0 in this Western Conference Second Round series with the Los Angeles Kings.

Game 3 is Thursday night at Staples Center (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS). Two years ago, the Kings won the first two games in each round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the road and then won Game 3 at home.

For the Ducks to avoid a similar fate, they would do well to start utilizing a particular area of the ice surface more.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Here's a quick story: A young defenseman from a Southern California-based NHL team earns a somewhat surprising selection to his country's Olympic team. After he competes in the tournament and plays well, it bolsters his belief in himself and helps the player, already on the path to stardom, be even better.

So is this tale about someone from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics or the 2014 Sochi Olympics?

It's a trick question, of course. The answer is both. Like Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty four years before him, the experience with the United States team in Russia for Cam Fowler of the Anaheim Ducks could help springboard him into the group of elite defensemen in the NHL. He might have been on that trajectory anyway.

"It was awesome. Obviously it wasn't the final result we were looking for (the U.S. did not medal), but for me getting that experience at such a young age was pretty crucial," Fowler said. "I looked back at a lot of those things that happened. Just being able to prove myself that I can play against the best competition at the highest level in the world, that was a pretty special thing for me. I've been able to kind of carry that with me. Just looking back and thinking through some things that I went through at that level definitely help me now."