ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Popular belief might have it that whenever the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks intersect in the long NHL schedule, it is a bruising, drag-it-out contest destined to need more than 60 minutes of regulation to decide who wins. Or, better yet, survives.
Two meetings into the five-game series this season mostly showed none of that. And then the third period happened Sunday night.
The Kings might have had the Ducks' Nov. 1 blowout at Staples Center on their minds when they made their initial trek south to Honda Center, bolting out to a three-goal lead and in complete control. Instead, they found themselves hanging on to a game that was swiftly getting away.
They would hang on _ barely. The damage done by Jeff Carter and his mates on "That 70s Line" in the second period was enough to hold off a roaring comeback attempt by the Ducks, with a 3-2 win, their third straight triumph.
For 40 minutes, it seemed as if the Kings (10-9-1) were bent on turning this latest collision between the Southland rivals into a complete reversal of the Ducks' 4-0 victory to kick off November. The decisiveness of the beating the Kings were doling out went beyond the scoreboard.
Even with playing Saturday while the Ducks rested, the Kings turned their early jump from the first period into a full sprint in the second. Carter was right in the middle of it all, with linemates Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli happily along for the ride.
Carter got the lead assist on Drew Doughty's successful rising wrist shot to start the scoring and then put in power-play goals 1:14 apart to cash in successive penalties taken by the Ducks' Ryan Getzlaf and Kevin Bieksa. Toffoli and Pearson's tic-tac-toe sequence with Carter highlighted the center's first goal.
This was a performance that was heading toward the best for the Kings through their up-and-down first quarter of the season. But the equally topsy-turvy Ducks (9-7-3) decided to flip their switch on to open the third.
Antoine Vermette got the Ducks off the mat with a deflection of Hampus Lindholm's point shot at the 3:34 mark. And then it became a one-goal game when Rickard Rakell drilled in a one-time shot past Kings goalie Peter Budaj, giving the Ducks more than 11 minutes to tie the game.
Despite their frantic push over the final 20 minutes, the Ducks never did pull even. Budaj made 28 saves, while the Ducks' John Gibson stopped 26 shots.
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