LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Kings came into their game with the Ducks as the second-hottest team in Southern California. They were the ones that emerged with their winning streak intact.
Slava Voynov scored the go-ahead goal in the third period of the Kings' 5-2 victory Monday night, their season-high fourth in a row that also snapped Anaheim's six-game winning streak.
"It's big to win it without going into overtime. We wanted those two points. In a division game it's almost like four," said Dustin Penner, whose first goal of the season tied the game 1-1 in the second period.
Dustin Brown added a goal and his 200th career assist, and Anze Kopitar had three assists to help Los Angeles win for the sixth time in seven games. Jonathan Quick stopped 24 shots.
"That whole third period was ours," Drew Doughty said. "The crowd was going nuts and we had all the momentum."
The Pacific Division-leading Ducks, who had come from behind in all six of their recent wins, twice owned one-goal leads, but fell short of tying the franchise record for consecutive victories. They had won 10 of 11.
Their 30-year-old rookie, Viktor Fasth, made 20 saves in the loss after winning his first eight NHL games, the longest streak in the league this season.
"During the whole game I had to work really hard to see the pucks," he said. "Some days you have those games when it feels like you can track the puck much easier. I was fighting hard. I made some bad decisions out there."
The Ducks were coming off a 4-3 home win over Colorado on Sunday night.
"In the third, we had a really power play and got a couple of great chances there but couldn't get the puck in the net," Saku Koivu said. "Then they got the third goal and another one right after that, so they really caught the momentum and we really didn't get anything going for the last 10 minutes. Maybe we ran out of gas there."
The Kings broke a 2-2 tie 4:46 into the third period. Voynov's first goal of the season came on a shot from the right side that struck Fasth and trickled through his legs. Kopitar and Brown got the assists.
With Sheldon Souray sent off for slashing, Jake Muzzin struck 15 seconds into the penalty, beating Fasth glove-side to make it 4-2 at 6:23. Kopitar and Voynov assisted.
"With that (power play) goal just coming on the heels of them scoring the (go-ahead) goal, I think that all of a sudden it was like the wind went out of our sails and we weren't going to get that comeback that we've had for (six) games in a row," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They played good, but we could have played much better."
Brown had a chance to extend the Kings' lead with 2:33 to play on a penalty shot. He was on a breakaway when he got pulled down from behind by Ben Lovejoy. But Fasth forced Brown wide right and he missed, making him 1 for 3 on such shots in his career.
Jeff Carter made up for it by scoring with 20 seconds left.
The Kings twice rallied from one-goal deficits in the second to tie the game.
Brown made it 2-2 on his shot from centre ice that sailed over Fasth's head, hit the crossbar and bounced in at 17:53.
Penner tied it 1-1 on a tip-in off a pinpoint pass from Jarret Stoll at 3:16. Stoll also earned his 200th career assist. It was Penner's first goal since scoring the game-winner in overtime of Game 5 in the Western Conference finals last year.
The Ducks led 1-0 on Andrew Cogliano's goal off a rebound that got under Fasth's glove 13 seconds into the second. They took a 2-1 lead on Koivu's power-play goal at 5:51. Rob Scuderi swept away a rebound in front of the net that went to Koivu, who scored his fifth goal.
The Kings outshot the Ducks 10-7 in a scoreless first.
Notes: The Kings have beaten the Ducks four straight at Staples Center. ... The Ducks won the first meeting 7-4 in Anaheim on Feb. 2. ... Ducks RW Teemu Selanne played in his 100th career game against the Kings. He is Anaheim's career scoring leader against them with 52 goals and 66 assists. ... Penner played in his 499th career NHL game. ... The teams will meet twice more in April.
