Dostal makes 43 saves, Ducks edge Kings in shootout

LOS ANGELES -- Lukas Dostal made 43 saves for the Anaheim Ducks in a 2-1 shootout win against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

Dostal got his 15th win in 32 appearances this season, setting a new NHL career high after posting 14 victories in 44 games last season. He has won each of his past four starts and is 5-1-1 in his past seven.

“They direct a lot of pucks at the net, and the one thing that you sometimes underestimate with the goalie is when he stops it, and then covers it up and makes the save, and gets a whistle, and he deflects the rebounds into the corners," Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. "I thought he was excellent at that. And in the third period they obviously put a lot of heat on him, and he was terrific."

Brian Dumoulin scored for the Ducks (24-24-6), who have won three straight and are 6-1-0 in their past seven games.

“Just had to keep it simple and grind,” Dumoulin said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be a pretty one. ‘Dos' did a great keeping us in the game a little bit.”

Adrian Kempe, who will represent Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-off from Feb. 12-20, ended a seven-game goal drought when he tied the game late in the third period for the Kings (29-17-7).

“We fought back hard there at the end, and obviously shootout can go either way, so it was a good game,” Los Angeles forward Trevor Lewis said.

David Rittich made 25 saves for the Kings in the second game of a back-to-back after winning 5-4 in a shootout against the Dallas Stars on Friday. Rittich started both games because Darcy Kuemper was unavailable for personal reasons.

“He played great,” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “I think his last three outings have been really good there, going back to Tampa [when Rittich allowed two goals on 32 shots in a 3-0 loss on Jan. 30]. We could have easily lost that game by a lot, a large margin. David is a competitor.”

Dumoulin scored at 7:04 of the third during a delayed penalty on a wrist shot from the left circle. It was his first goal of the season in 54 games.

“He’s been through this,” Cronin said. “He’s won a couple of Cups, played a lot of hockey, so he makes those plays that the young guys need to make all the time. He has a natural feel for the game.”

Leo Carlsson, who will also play for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-off, had the secondary assist.

Kempe tied it up 1-1 at 17:21, getting behind three Ducks into the slot to take Phillip Danault’s pass and score on a backhand. It is the fourth straight 25-goal season for Kempe.

“I think we’ve been doing it all year long,” Lewis said. “It’s a resilient group. Everyone plays for each other, and sometimes you just got to find a way to get one, and ‘Juice’ was flying there and got one.”

Trevor Zegras and Carlsson made their attempts for Anaheim in the shootouts. Kempe and Kevin Fiala missed their tries, hitting the post and crossbar respectively.

“Those two guys are so confident,” Cronin said of Zegras and Carlsson. “You can see when they carry the puck down, they know what they’re doing. (When) it goes into a shootout, when you have them on the bench … we have some players that are strong in that area. I was feeling good about it when we had the shootout.”

NOTES: The Ducks are 7-0-0 when allowing one goal or fewer. … Fiala had his three-game scoring streak end. … Doughty, who was named to the Canada roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off, played a season-high 31:09 of ice time. He has played at least 23:51 in all six games since making his season debut on Jan. 29 after breaking his left ankle in a preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sept. 25.