Ducks defeat Kings, move into first place

LOS ANGELES - The Anaheim Ducks have climbed the mountain, but say they're not done yet.
That was the common theme in the Ducks' dressing room after Jakob Silfverberg scored in the third period and Anaheim won a franchise-record 11th straight game with a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Saturday.

David Perron and Ryan Kesler also scored for the Ducks (37-19-8), who took sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division after they were 16 points behind the Kings on Jan. 12.
"That's the position we want to be in and we're not satisfied being there right now," Rickard Rakell said. "We just want to keep going. ... the team's coming together and we have four lines that play solid hockey. It must be tough to match up against us."
Anaheim is 18-1-1 since Jan. 17 and has the best record in the League (25-4-2) and best road record (12-1-2) since the Christmas break.

Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau became the fastest coach to 400 NHL wins (400-186-77). He has coached the Ducks since the 2011-12 season and coached the Washington Capitals from 2007-11.
"I must have had good teams," Boudreau said. "I was lucky in Washington and lucky to have a great team here."
It's been more than luck against the Kings lately. Since the 2013-14 season, the Ducks are 11-1-2 in the regular season against their Southern California rival.
The Ducks surpassed the previous record 10-game win streak from 2013-14, during a season in which Anaheim won 54 games.
"I don't know if we're satisfied by that. … but it means you're doing something right," goalie Frederik Andersen, who is 13-0-2 in his past 15 decisions and hasn't lost in regulation since Dec. 21. said. "That's all we're really focused on."

The Kings (38-22-4) lost for the second time in regulation in seven games (5-2-0). They have scored two goals or fewer in nine of their past 10 games.
"Every win and loss is a matter of home ice in the playoffs," Anze Kopitar said. "We do realize what's at stake here and we fell behind here today and we're going to have to catch ground."
Rakell lifted a wrist shot from the right side that went in off Silfverberg, who was screening Kings goalie Jonathan Quick on the power play at 2:24 to give Anaheim a 3-1 lead.
Drew Doughty pulled the Kings to 3-2 with a power-play goal 63 seconds later, on a wrist shot with Kopitar screening Andersen.

Perron tipped Cam Fowler's shot on the power play at 15:57 of the second to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead. It gave Anaheim a power-play goal in a franchise-record tying 11 straight games, and it is 19-for-43 (44.2 percent) in that span.
"I could never have foreseen a power play being as productive as it is," Boudreau said. "But when they're on the power play, they have a tremendous amount of confidence right now, and the leaps and bounds we've made in the last two months is incredible."
The Kings outshot the Ducks, 11-3, to start the second period and tied it 1-1 on Milan Lucic's power-play goal at 11:14, but Anaheim took the energy back with Perron's goal.

"When you lose a game like this, the biggest game of the year up to this point, it's a hard one to swallow, and you just have to bounce back as quick as you can with only 18 games left," Lucic said.
Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa and Kings center Andy Andreoff received game misconducts 6:58 into the first, when multiple fights broke out after a post-whistle tussle between Corey Perry and Kyle Clifford.
Newly acquired Kings forward Kris Versteeg sustained an upper-body injury in a fight with Rakell. He left the game and did not return.