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Kopitar helps Kings overcome Ryan, Ducks

Jan 9, 2009 - 7:10 AM By John Reger PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Kings ruined rookie Bobby Ryan's first career hat trick.

Alexander Frolov snapped a tie with a power-play goal at 7:43 of the third period and added an assist Thursday as the Kings posted a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

All-Star Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar also recorded a goal and an assist apiece for Los Angeles, which squandered a three-goal lead before Frolov's heroics.

"We knew we were capable of winning this game," Frolov said. "We had played a solid team game. We just gave up a couple of goals, but we didn't stop and kept working and scored a goal."

Ryan erased a 3-0 deficit by recording a natural hat trick in less than three minutes of game time spanning the final two periods for the Ducks, who had defeated the Kings, 3-1, on Tuesday.

"It's tough to succeed and have a good night when your team's not going as well as you would like," Ryan said. "We got behind the eight ball early and gave them too many opportunities, and didn't take advantage of the ones we got. We didn't deserve the two points tonight, that's for sure."

Los Angeles scored more goals against Anaheim in this one than it had in the previous three meetings, and it almost was not enough. The Kings managed just one goal over that stretch against their crosstown rivals.

Brown opened the scoring with six seconds left in first period and rookie Wayne Simmonds tallied 37 seconds into the middle session, giving Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle reason to pull All-Star goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere in favor of Jonas Hiller.

"I didn't think (Giguere) was square to the puck on the first goal and I didn't think he was square to the puck on the second," Carlyle said. "The puck, in my mind, should not go in from those angles on the stick side, so I made the decision."

Kings coach Terry Murray gave Brown credit for the effort on his goal.

"I liked what Brown did on his first goal," Murray said. "That was real a strong play, just an individual effort."

Hiller did not fare much better as Kopitar scored at 8:50 of the second for the three-goal cushion.

That was when Ryan took over. He scored his three goals in a 2-minute, 21-second span to tie the contest at 3-3 early in the third period.

"Bobby had a great game," Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer said. "He was attacking with the puck, skating. You like to take advantage of an opportunity like that when you have a guy that hot and he gets you back in the game and ties it up when you're down by two."

Ryan started the comeback with a power-play goal with 46 seconds remaining in the second, snapping a shot past goaltender Jonathan Quick.

"I think it's your job to earn the right to stay (in the NHL) for the long haul every single day, and that's just what I'm trying to do right now," said Ryan, who has scored 11 goals in 24 games this season. "Continue to play well and earn Carlyle's trust."

The 21-year-old struck again 16 seconds into the third, converting the rebound of Ryan Carter's shot. Just 79 seconds afterward, Ryan came down the left wing and put a move on Peter Harrold, spinning around the defenseman and unleashing a wrist shot past a sprawling Quick.

"I probably wasn't too sharp position-wise and gave him a little bit of an opening on the first goal," Quick said. "The second one, I didn't handle it as well as I could've. The third one was just a nice move."

But less than two minutes after Anaheim was called for having too many men on the ice, Frolov scored his 17th goal of the season on a wrist shot, putting Los Angeles ahead for good.

"It was an even game and we knew we were playing great and that we deserved to win," Frolov said. "We just had to do what we should, like put pucks in the net and score big power-play goals."

"We battled back, and (Ryan's) three goals were huge," Niedermayer said. "We just couldn't finish it off."