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Perry's shootout goal thwarts Kings' comeback attempt

Nov 14, 2007 - 8:24 AM By Joel Bergman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Corey Perry nearly was erased from the game early. Luckily for the Anaheim Ducks, he was able to persevere.

Perry overcame a potentially serious injury in the first period and scored the decisive goal in the shootout as the Ducks withstood a comeback attempt to post a 4-3 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

Meeting for the first time since beginning the season with a two-game series in London, England on September 29 and 30, the teams were physical from the outset in the newly dubbed "Freeway Face-Off," the winning entry of an online contest held to select a name for the rivalry between the Southern California teams.

Kings defenseman Rob Blake upended Perry with a shoulder along the left wing boards 13 minutes into the contest. Perry went down immediately and had to be helped from the ice, but he was diagnosed with just a bruised left knee and, as X-rays were negative, returned for the second period.

"Perry just hyperextended his knee," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "At first, it looked pretty serious."

His return proved crucial as the Ducks squandered a 3-1 lead in the third period and played a scoreless overtime before a shootout was needed. After Los Angeles goaltender Jason LaBarbera made a left pad save on Ryan Getzlaf and Anaheim netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere brilliantly gloved Anze Kopitar's shot in the first round, Perry gave the Ducks the edge.

After starting wide right, Perry cut toward the net and lifted a shot that glanced off the left arm of LaBarbera and under the crossbar, putting Anaheim ahead. Giguere squeezed his pads together to deny Dustin Brown on the Kings' second attempt, and Andy McDonald sealed the victory by beating LaBarbera to the stick side.

"It's not fun to play a full 65 minutes and you lose in a shootout, but that's the way it is," LaBarbera said. "It's tough when you play a full 65 minutes and it comes down to breakaways."

Getzlaf had a goal and an assist and Giguere made 29 saves for the Ducks, who have won four of their last six games.

"That was a big way to finish after letting up in the third period and giving up those two goals," Getzlaf said. "It was a big battle back and finish for us. We gutted it out and got it done. I think the penalty-killers did a good job of keeping us in the game, as well as our goaltender."

"If you just keep being positive and working hard at it, eventually it's going to turn around for you," added Giguere, whose team has won three straight shootouts after losing its first two this season. "The last two games, we've scored two goals in the shootout. I believe that when your team scores two goals in the first three shots, you should win."

Anaheim also posted a shootout victory over San Jose on Friday.

Alexander Frolov collected three assists and LaBarbera turned aside 30 shots for Los Angeles, which had its three-game winning streak at the Honda Center snapped.

"I thought Frolov was just exceptional," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "He was the best player on the ice for both teams."

The Ducks opened the scoring on the power play with 4:46 left in the first. From above the slot, captain Chris Pronger dished to Getzlaf, who blasted a one-timer that glanced off the glove of LaBarbera and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Just 76 seconds later, Anaheim doubled its advantage on a tally by Todd Marchant.

Drew Miller carried the puck down the right wing and cut to the slot before LaBarbera poke-checked the puck away. It went to Marchant, who buried his second attempt from the slot into a vacant net for his second goal of the season.

The Kings halved the deficit with 13.5 seconds left in the period, cashing in on roughing penalty on Marchant. Derek Armstrong passed to defenseman Tom Preissing, who wristed a shot from the right faceoff circle between the pads of Giguere for his first tally as a King.

Giguere made several tough saves in the second period to preserve the lead for Anaheim. The Ducks gave him some breathing room with another power-play goal late in the session.

While shooting the puck up the right wing boards, LaBarbera had his stick knocked away by Perry. Anaheim maintained possession in the zone and set up blue-liner Kent Huskins, who ripped a one-timer from the right point between the goalie's pads at 14:51 for a 3-1 bulge.

Giguere made another big stop with just over two minutes to play in the second, robbing Michael Cammalleri from 15 feet out on the right side. But he could not prevent Los Angeles from making another third-period comeback and force overtime.

"It was really rewarding for our guys to come back against a really good team that protects leads," Crawford said. "We had to do a lot of things right in order to come back in this game."

After rallying from a 4-0 deficit with less than nine minutes remaining in the third and posting a 6-5 overtime win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday, the Kings drew within 3-2 at 4:36 of the session Tuesday as Frolov carried the puck around the net from the left corner and reversed direction in the right circle.

While heading toward the net, Frolov fed rookie Matt Moulson, who was alone on the doorstep to tap in the puck for his second career tally.

"When he really wants that puck, he does a lot of creative things with it," Crawford said. "His puck protection is at the elite level in this league."

With Rob Niedermayer in the penalty box for high-sticking, Cammalleri drilled a one-timer from the top of the right circle that beat Giguere to the glove side with Brown setting a screen at 13:11, forging a 3-3 tie.

"We showed a lot of patience and we didn't panic," Crawford said. "Brown did a great job screening in front and Mike got the shot through. Those are things you need to have happen."

LaBarbera admitted the Kings never doubted their ability to get back in this game after what transpired Saturday.

"Coming off the game the other night, after trailing like that, you could just feel there was still confidence," he said. "Earlier in the year, when we got behind a couple of goals, maybe our confidence wouldn't have been there to come back. Being able to do what we did the other night really gave us the confidence to come back when we are down a couple of goals."

The overtime ended with a fight between Pronger and Los Angeles' Michal Handzus, with Anaheim's defenseman receiving an instigator penalty that brings an automatic one-game suspension. Pronger will be forced to sit out the back end of the home-and-home series with the Kings on Thursday.

"He shot the puck after the whistle," Pronger said. "He tried to come back at me. I threw him into the boards. He started swinging, so I reciprocated, and that was the end result."