Recap: Ducks Can't Complete the Comeback, Fall 5-3 to LA in Season Finale

The Ducks fought back to pull within one in the third period of the 2022-23 season finale, but could not find the equalizer in a 5-3 loss to the rival Los Angeles Kings tonight at Honda Center.
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With the loss, Anaheim concluded the season at 23-47-12, eighth in the Pacific Division. The Ducks will have the league's best odds at obtaining the first-overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft at next month's draft lottery.

Max Jones and Troy Terry scored for Anaheim. Cam Fowler, Trevor Zegras, Ryan Strome and Kevin Shattenkirk added assists. John Gibson made 31 saves.
Adrian Kempe scored a hat trick for the Kings, who concluded the regular season at 47-25-10 (104 points) and finished third in the Pacific Division. Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore also scored. Viktor Arvidsson tallied three assists. Joonas Korpisalo earned the win in net, his 11th as a King, stopping 21-of-24 Anaheim shots.
With the setback, Anaheim's 19-year run of winning at least one game at Honda Center over Los Angeles was snapped. The Ducks fell to 42-23-16 all-time mark on home ice against their archrival.
Anaheim struck first before the game was even five minutes old, with Terry taking a pass at full stride on right wing from Fowler and snapping a shot past Korpisalo to the glove side.

Terry capped the regular season with a six-game point streak and points in 11 of his last 12 appearances (5-8=13). He co-led Anaheim in goals this season (23) and finished second in points and assists.
The goal was also his 60th point of the season, giving Anaheim its first pair of consecutive 60-point producers since Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry from 2010-12.
Fowler's assist was his career-best 38th of the year. The 13th year Duck finished the campaign with personal-best totals in points and assists, and one shy of his career high in goals while appearing in all 82 games for the second time in his NHL career.
LA would respond later in the period on an impressive piece of hand-eye coordination by the visiting captain, albeit one that only barely passed the official review. When Kempe fired a shot from the point, Kopitar knocked it down out of mid-air and swatted home the bouncing puck to bring the Kings level.
The Ducks challenged the goal for a high-stick, but the NHL's Situation Room ruled Kopitar's stick was "
not above the normal height of his shoulders when he contacted the puck
."
The goal marked Kopitar's 28th of the year, his best single-season output since the 2017-18 campaign. The 35-year-old is closing in on several notable career milestones, including the 400-goal mark (393).
The tying goal was also Kopitar's 30th career tally against the Ducks, his most against any NHL opponent.
Unfortunately for Anaheim, the second period would be all LA, as two goals scored just 49 seconds apart would give the Kings a 3-1 cushion headed to the third.
The go-ahead goal was one of the stranger ones the Ducks have seen all season. With the Kings on the power play, Kempe fired a one-timer from the right circle that Gibson appeared to squeeze between his leg pad and the post. But upon further review, the puck clearly snuck between the goaltender and the metal, just barely crossing the goal line before sliding underneath the net, which has slightly lifted off its moorings.
The goal would count
as LA's second of the game, Kempe's first of three on the night and his career-high 39th of the season. The former first-round pick has five goals in his last three games (5-2=7), including two multi-goal efforts.
Over the last three seasons, Kempe has tallied 23 points in 15 matchups against Anaheim.
Moore scored on the next shift, taking advantage of a Frank Vatrano turnover by finishing the subsequent 2-on-0 rush with Arvidsson.
A native of Thousand Oaks, Moore is seventh in NHL career scoring by players born in California.
Arvidsson's three assists for the evening set a new single-season high for the former Predators forward (33).
The Ducks would get back within one in the early minutes of the third period, setting up a nail-biter in the Freeway Face-Off finale. Shattenkirk worked the puck down the right wing wall, drawing in the defense before delivering a perfect backdoor pass to Jones, who shoveled it home on the doorstep to cut the deficit in half.

Jones finished the campaign with three points in his last four games (2-1=3) and a career-best 19 points on the season.
Shattenkirk also finished the season strong, tallying four helpers in his last six games.
Trailing by just a goal, the Ducks would be unable to go work in search of the tying marker, assessed three minor penalties in a span of 2:06, including 1:49 of 5-on-3 time, which would prove too much to handle against a strong Kings power play. With Anaheim not able to make a change late in the shift, the puck eventually came to Kempe for another one-timer from the dot and this one fooled no one, beating a sliding Gibson to the short side to put the Kings back ahead by two.
With his second of the night, Kempe became the 18th 40-goal scorer in the NHL this season and the first King to accomplish the feat since Team President Luc Robitaille three decades ago.
Once again though, Anaheim would get right back in the game with a persistent effort on the forecheck. This time, Terry took the puck away, tapping it free for Henrique, who slid it cross-seam to Zegras for a one-timer into a mostly empty net.

Zegras finished the year tied with Terry for the team lead in goals (23). He paced Anaheim skaters in points and assists, and posted four points in his last four appearances.
The Ducks would fight for the tying goal, both figuratively and literally as the last five minutes saw 40 penalty minutes and three misconducts, but Kempe hit the empty net to seal a 5-3 Kings victory.