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Ducks beat Kings, lock up West's No. 4 seed

Apr 10, 2011 - 7:08 AM Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Saku Koivu had a goal and an assist, helping the Ducks beat the Kings, 3-1, and secure home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Anaheim finished the regular season with 99 points (47-30-5), the same as Nashville and Phoenix. However, because the Ducks have more non-shootout victories than the Predators and Coyotes, they secured the fourth seed in the Western Conference.

"I don't think anyone picked us to have home ice advantage at any point, but it's funny how things fall into your lap when you win your fair share of games," said Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle.

Francois Beauchemin and Brandon McMillan also scored for the Ducks, who got 43 saves from Dan Ellis.

Jonathan Quick let in three goals on 20 shots for the playoff-bound Kings, who ended with 98 points (46-30-6) and currently sit in seventh in the West. However, their postseason seeding depends on Sunday's contests.

"We had a chance to finish fourth and now we're seventh or eighth," said Los Angeles winger Dustin Brown. "But at the end of the day we're in the playoffs. It's a new season, everyone can hit the reset button and get ready to go because now all the 82 games are irrelevant."

Anaheim took control by scoring the game's first three goals, the first of which it netted during a 4-on-4.

McMillan was surrounded by two Kings defensemen in front of the crease, but managed to whack the puck out of the air and past Quick with 6:33 left in the opening period.

A little more than two minutes later, during an Anaheim power play, Koivu put himself in position to make it a 2-0 game. With the puck on the left side of the ice, he slowly moved from the right point to the top of the right circle and, eventually, deep into the circle itself.

He did so undetected by the Los Angeles defense, making himself able to one- time in Corey Perry's backhand pass from across the slot.

The Kings had a good chance to get one of those scores back in the second period, when Brown intercepted a pass and raced up the ice on a shorthanded breakaway.

But Ellis used a poke check to prevent Brown from scoring, then pad-stopped a high-slot blast from Drew Doughty seconds later.

Anaheim still had some time left on its power play following the saves and regrouped to set up an attack. A quick puck advancement had the Kings scrambling to get into position, and allowed Beauchemin to get a good look at a shot from above the left circle. He used a screen to send a low rocket past Quick at the 8:54 mark, making it a 3-0 contest.

The Kings' Ryan Smyth scored on the man advantage with 1:36 left in the middle period, but Ellis stopped 10 shots in the third to secure the victory.

Game Notes

Anaheim won four of the six meetings this season...The Kings matched a franchise record with 46 wins...LA finished 25-13-3 at home...The Ducks were 21-17-3 on the road.