ANAHEIM — The Kings strolled into Honda Center on Tuesday night with the opportunity to clinch a playoff berth, but the Ducks had other ideas as they upended their cross-region rivals, 3-1, to capture this season’s penultimate Freeway Faceoff.
The Kings, who had taken their previous eight meetings with the Ducks, including two this season, saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. The Ducks got the ball rolling on a modest two-game points streak.
The Nashville Predators clinched a playoff berth with an overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets, leaving the Kings and Vegas Golden Knights still in search of a firm position in the postseason. The Kings’ chance to avenge two straight first-round playoff losses to second-place Edmonton is at risk, since Vegas is one point behind them for third place in the Pacific Division with a game in hand.
Frank Vatrano, Alex Killorn and Trevor Zegras each broke out goal-scoring celebrations for the Ducks. Ryan Strome contributed two assists, with he and Vatrano being on the ice for all three Ducks goals. Lukáš Dostál made his fifth consecutive start, moving to 2-2-1 in those games on the strength of 36 saves.
Akil Thomas scored the Kings’ lone goal and Cam Talbot made 24 saves.
For the most part, the Ducks said they were unaware of their role as spoiler, though rookie Leo Carlsson continued to show awareness beyond that of even his more seasoned peers.
“I heard about it, yeah. It’s nice to destroy their hopes a little bit,” Carlsson said.
The Kings earned the game’s first lead and played their style early on, but halfway through the first period their game flattened a bit, with costly turnovers and untimely penalties fettering their efforts.
“We wanted an easy game, that was clear, and we got an easy game, except the other team beat us,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said.
The Ducks pulled away with 14:10 to play when Zegras stripped Jordan Spence at the red line and strode ahead for an…
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