Quick, Kings defeat Ducks, close gap on second in Pacific Division

ANAHEIM --Jonathan Quick made 29 saves, and the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 at Honda Center on Tuesday.

Quick has won three of his past four starts.
"He feels real good in the net right now, and we feel good with him in the net," Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said.
Adrian Kempe and Phillip Danault scored for the Kings (41-27-10), who have won two straight and three of four.
Los Angeles moved two points back of the Edmonton Oilers for second in the Pacific Division and extended its lead over the Vegas Golden Knights and Vancouver Canucks to five points. The Canucks lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
"If we expect to play a couple of weeks from now, we have to be comfortable [in one-goal games]," Quick said. "Especially this time of the year, these games are more frequent."
Adam Henrique scored, and John Gibson made 26 saves for the Ducks (30-34-14), who have three wins in their past 20 games.
"When I think of the Kings-Ducks rivalry, I think of Gibson and Quick," Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. "I thought they were both going at it. It was very reminiscent of battles of the past. I thought Quick was very good, and 'Gibby' was right there matching him."

Kempe gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead 27 seconds into the second period, scoring off an offensive zone face-off for his 34th goal of the season.
"Found the loose puck and just tried to get it on net," Kempe said. "It was a little bit of a roller, so the goalie wasn't really expecting where it was coming. Good shot."
Henrique tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 5:36 of the second when he split the defense and scored on the backhand.
The Ducks had three power-play opportunities in the second period, scoring one goal on 10 shots.
"Looks like he's been here before," McLellan said of Quick. "Made huge saves. ... Made them when he needed to, settled us down. That's what you expect from your goaltender at this time of the year."

Danault gave the Kings a 2-1 lead 32 seconds into the third period, scoring into an open net with Gibson out of position. The goal was initially waved off for goalie interference, but the Kings challenged and the call was overturned.
"We dug in at the end," McLellan said. "It was a fairly evenly played game."
Anaheim did not have a shot on goal in the first 9:43 of the first period. Los Angeles finished with a 10-7 edge in the period.
"We were a little more connected in the second (period)," Henrique said. "We were able to put pressure on them and get sustained (offensive) zone time and then that leads to a few power plays. That's how we have to play for 60 minutes, not just that middle frame and bits of pieces of the rest of the game."

NOTES:Quick won his 20th game of the season for the ninth time in his NHL career. He is 7-1-1 against the Ducks over the past four seasons. ... Only two players have scored more than 34 goals since the 2003-04 season for Los Angeles: Alex Frolov scored 35 in 2006-07, and Anze Kopitar scored 35 in 2017-18. ... Kempe is averaging 0.45 goals per game, the highest by a Los Angeles player since Ziggy Palffy averaged 0.49 in 2002-03. ... Danault has a goal in four straight games and has scored seven points (four goals, three assists) during a six-game point streak. ... Ducks forward Sam Carrick (lower-body injury) and defenseman Urho Vaakanainen (non-COVID illness) did not play. ... Henrique has scored six points (four goals, two assists) in his past seven games. ... Ducks forward Troy Terry had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (seven points; five goals, two assists) and has scored 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past 10 games. … Kings defenseman Matt Roy had an assist and has scored 19 points (one goal, 18 assists) for a new career high in points.