Ducks top Kings on Rakell goal in OT, gain in race for third

ANAHEIM --Rickard Rakell scored with 19 seconds left in overtime to give the Anaheim Ducks a 2-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Honda Center on Friday, moving them within one point of the Kings for third in the Pacific Division.

Rakell carried the puck into the Kings zone and beat goalie Jonathan Quick with a high wrist shot from the right face-off circle to win it.
"I just saw there wasn't much time left," said Rakell, whose 32 goals are one shy of his NHL career high, set last season. "I just tried to build speed and beat somebody up the ice. Try to get the shot through. It was a great feeling."
\[WATCH: All Kings vs. Ducks highlights\]
The Ducks (40-25-13), who began the day holding the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, moved one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues for the first wild card.
Nick Ritchie scored, Ondrej Kase had two assists, and John Gibson made 28 saves for Anaheim, which is 6-1-1 in its past eight games and 15-2-2 in its past 19 at home.
"We showed some resiliency, but so did they," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "This is typical L.A.-Anaheim game. It could've went either way. We were fortunate enough to find one in overtime."
Drew Doughty scored in the first period, and Quick made 31 saves for Los Angeles (43-28-8), which lost for the first time in three games.

"I think if we win out our games, we should be able to make it to the playoffs," Doughty said. "We got that one point, which is big, but we basically have to win out."
Ritchie tied the game 1-1 at 16:55 of the second period at the end of a long shift in the Kings zone.
Kase maintained possession behind the net and passed to defenseman Francois Beauchemin at the blue line. Quick made the save on Beauchemin's shot from the point, but Ritchie boxed out Kings forward Trevor Lewis on the rebound and backhanded the puck into the net before Quick could slide over.
"That was our game plan, get the puck to the net," Ritchie said. "When we're in the offensive zone, go to the net. We did a good job of that as a team. We got rewarded once. There were a lot of close opportunities other than that one."

The Ducks outshot the Kings 16-10 in a fast-paced first period, but Doughty scored his 10th goal at 6:01 to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. He took advantage of a collision between Anaheim forwards Ryan Kesler and Andrew Cogliano that gave him room to bring the puck from the Ducks blue line to the bottom of the right circle before shooting high past Gibson.
"We were confident that we could win that game going into the third," Doughty said. "We had a breakaway with like 30 seconds left (in regulation), and that could have sealed the deal right there. We didn't play good enough for the full 60 minutes to win a hockey game tonight. In order to beat that team, you have to play a lot better."

Goal of the game

Rakell's goal with 19 seconds remaining in overtime.

Save of the game

Gibson stopping Adrian Kempe with 43 seconds left in the third period.

Highlight of the game

Ritchie's goal at 16:55 of the second period.

They said it

"We feel really good that we control our own destiny. We have said that all along. We don't need to scoreboard watch if we take care of our own business. The most important team in the playoff race is the Los Angeles Kings, and we need to continue to approach it that way."-- Kings coach John Stevens
"I thought we played good throughout the whole game. We played hard. We created a lot of chances. It was good for us to not get down on ourselves when they scored the first goal. At the same time, even though it's not nice to be down a goal, I thought we played better when we were down a goal." -- Ducks forward Rickard Rakell

Need to know

Kings forward Alex Iafallo was a late scratch because of an upper-body injury. … Doughty reached double figures in goals for the seventh time in 10 NHL seasons. ... Rakell has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in his past 15 games and four points (two goals, two assists) in four games against the Kings this season. … Gibson is 6-1-1 with a 1.85 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in his past eight games. … Linesman Shane Heyer worked his 2,106th and final NHL regular-season game. He made his debut in the League on Oct. 6, 1988.

What's next

Kings: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Monday (10:30 p.m. ET; SN, SN1, PRIME, ALT, NHL.TV)
Ducks: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday (9 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, PRIME, ALT, NHL.TV)