One streak ends, another goes on

The Kings’ winning streak ended Monday at a club-record nine games, halted not by lack of effort but by a more desperate effort by the playoff long shot Ducks.

It took every bit of determination the Ducks had to subdue the Kings, 4-2, at the Honda Center and set a record of their own with a 10-game home winning streak.

It took Scott Niedermayer frantically batting the puck away from Dustin Brown while on his knees near the net midway through the third period. It took Corey Perry contributing a goal and two assists despite losing his center, Ryan Getzlaf, to a sprained ankle in the second period. It also took Teemu Selanne adding a goal and an assist and goaltender Jonas Hiller weathering a barrage in the third period while the Kings outshot the Ducks, 18-7.

“I think we were tired of losing to them,” Niedermayer said after Ducks beat the Kings for the first time in six games stretching to last season and moved within three points of eighth place in the West.

“They’ve played well against us. Tonight I thought we came out and played a good game pretty much from start to finish. The situation needs us to win. We need to think about winning every game we play.”

The Kings had won every game they played from Jan. 21 through Feb. 6. They had staged so many comebacks that another one seemed inevitable Monday, but they ran out of energy. Their loss and the Phoenix Coyotes’ rout of the Edmonton Oilers dropped the Kings to fifth in the West, but they’re still light years ahead of where they figured to be.

“It was a nice run. A very nice run,” Kings Coach Terry Murray said. “Guys really dug in through some very hard games. A long road trip, come-from-behind, a lot of playing hard for each other, a lot of perseverance through some difficult games there, and to find a way to stretch the streak to nine was tremendous.”

It didn’t get to 10, and defenseman Drew Doughty pronounced himself “a little disappointed” they fell short of double digits. That’s another milestone for a team that has raised its level of play and expectations to new highs -- that it expects to win every game.

“Tonight we rallied in the third period but Anaheim brought their ‘A’ game here tonight and we didn’t match it,” Murray said.

The Ducks had the better of the play in the early minutes but the Kings scored first. Oscar Moller recorded his first goal and first point in 16 games at 12 minutes 31 seconds, after Alexander Frolov made a beautiful backhand pass off the right-wing boards and into the slot. The puck glanced off Bobby Ryan and to Moller, who scored on a back-hander.

The Ducks got a two-man advantage after Matt Greene was penalized for delay of game at 16:50 and the Kings were caught with too many men on the ice at 17:20. Jonathan Quick made an exceptional pad save on Getzlaf and stopped Selanne by the left post before the puck bounced to Selanne for a successful second try at 18:30.

The Ducks surged ahead, 2-1, after Perry beat Davis Drewiske to the puck in the left-wing corner and slid it quickly to Getzlaf for a shot that beat Quick to the glove side at 3:27 of the second period. The Ducks had a goal waved off during a power play but scored at 6:24 after Selanne’s shot from the left circle created a rebound that Saku Koivu backhanded home.

The Kings moved within a goal at 18:06, one second after the expiration of a bad penalty taken by Ryan Whitney. A precise passing play from Doughty to Ryan Smyth on the goal line to Anze Kopitar in the slot ended with Kopitar prodding it past Hiller for his 27th goal this season.

Merely 24 seconds later, the Ducks rebuilt their two-goal lead. Perry made an excellent solo play carrying the puck up ice before using Sean O’Donnell as a screen and rifling a hard wrist shot past Quick.

Jarret Stoll said there’s only one thing left for the Kings to do now that their streak is over. “Start a new one,” he said, smiling.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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