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Ducks aim to punch playoff ticket vs. rival Kings

Apr 8, 2011 - 3:33 PM (Sports Network) - The Anaheim Ducks have been in playoff mode for quiet some time now. A victory tonight over the Los Angeles Kings in the opener of a home-and-home set at the Honda Center and they will finally qualify for the postseason.

Both the Ducks and Blackhawks currently have 95 points with two games to play. However, Anaheim has the tiebreaker over Chicago with more non-shootout wins and is also two points up on ninth-place Dallas, which visits Colorado tonight. Anaheim can secure its fifth trip to the postseason in six seasons with a victory in this matchup or a regulation loss by the Stars to the Avalanche because they also own the tiebreaker over Dallas.

The Ducks can also claim a trip to the postseason if Dallas loses beyond regulation and they get at least a point versus the Kings.

Anaheim had stumbled over its past two games, but avoided a potentially devastating third straight loss on Wednesday by besting San Jose, 6-2. Corey Perry reached a NHL-leading 50 goals by completing his third career hat trick during the Ducks' four-goal second period.

Perry also had an assist and has scored 19 goals in his past 14 games while also logging a career-best 97 points this season. He joins Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne as the only players in Ducks history to log 50-goal seasons.

"It hasn't really sunk in ... It's an exciting number and hopefully there's more to come," Perry said of the accomplishment.

Linemates Ryan Getzlaf (4 assists) and Bobby Ryan (3 assists) helped to set up Perry's big game, while Cam Fowler and Selanne both scored and set up another.

Ray Emery made 22 saves before exiting with a lower-body injury, while Dan Ellis made 13 saves the rest of the way to preserve the win, which improved the Ducks to 25-13-2 at home this season.

While the Ducks are still fighting to get into the NHL's second season, the Kings locked up their second straight trip to the playoffs with Wednesday's 3-2 shootout win over the Coyotes. With 98 points and two games to play, Los Angeles is trying to hold off Nashville and Phoenix for the conference's fourth seed -- both the Preds and Coyotes have 97 points -- and home-ice advantage in the first round of the postseason.

A win, coupled with losses by Nashville (versus Columbus) and Phoenix (versus San Jose), would lock up the fourth spot for Los Angeles.

The Kings will miss the shootout in the playoffs as Jonathan Quick stopped two of the three skaters in the tiebreaker on Wednesday after posting 33 saves through overtime to improve to 10-0 in the shootout this season. Jarret Stoll, meanwhile, had one of Los Angeles' two goals in the breakaway session. He is 9-for-10 on shootout tries this season.

"It's a win that you want to have and that's a hard game to win," said Los Angeles head coach Terry Murray. "The guys stepped up. It was a fun game to coach tonight."

Stoll and Kyle Clifford also scored in regulation for the Kings, who matched a franchise single-season record with their 46th win, also done in 1990-91 and last year. Tonight, Los Angeles will try to record consecutive 100-point seasons for the first time in franchise history.

Perry had the overtime winner in a 2-1 victory when these clubs last met on March 19, giving the teams a split of their four meetings so far. The Kings have still won eight of the past 12 matchups overall as well as four of their last six at the Honda Center.

Los Angeles will host Anaheim to close out the regular season on Saturday.