Kings Give Ducks the Slip

This was a moment that showed the directions the Kings and Ducks are headed.

The Ducks’ Paul Kariya, one of the best skaters in the world, fell down with his team on a four-on-three power play in overtime, leaving the puck sitting like a plump prize.

The Kings’ Bryan Smolinski took it and bolted forward, making a crisp cross-ice pass to an uncovered Aaron Miller. The defenseman shot the puck past Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and the Kings had a 3-2 overtime victory in front of 17,002 at the Arrowhead Pond Sunday.

The Ducks dominated play on the ice as soundly as King fans dominated the cheering from the seats. But even earning a point seemed pointless.

The Kings are pushing forward with a season-high three game winning streak and five-game unbeaten streak. The Ducks have fallen and they can’t seem to get up.

“We find a new way [to lose] every night,” Duck Coach Bryan Murray said. “What do I say? We get lots of shots. We don’t give up too many chances. We have a four-on-three in overtime. Our best player falls down. It’s like we have to find a way to not win the hockey game.”

And the Kings found a way to win.

The Ducks had a 37-17 edge in shots. The Kings, who played Saturday against Columbus, were running on fumes in the third period, when they were outshot, 19-9. Only the brilliant play of goalie Jamie Storr kept the Kings in the game.

The Kings’ Adam Mair seemed to set the Ducks up for the victory, when he was called for holding with 1:10 left in the third period. Instead, all Mair’s penalty did was set up a pratfall.

Kariya carried the puck just across the blue line into the King zone. He pulled up and looked to pass, as he’s done thousands of times. Then he fell. Smolinski took it from there, rushing into the Duck zone, pulling defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky toward him, then passing with laser accuracy to Miller. He finished off his first two-goal game by slipping a shot just below the crossbar.

“It’s not like that was planned,” Smolinski said.

Said Miller: “I did hesitate a little bit. But I saw it was a wide open two-on-one. It worked out great. I thought we got out-played very badly tonight. We were pretty tired. This is a big two points.”

The Ducks couldn’t even be satisfied with the point, even if it did get them out of last place in the Western Conference.

“It was just a stupid play by me,” Kariya said. “I should have carried deeper into the zone, kept going, especially with that ice.”

The Ducks had controlled most of the game, and all of the third period. Yet, they were scoreless in five power-play attempts and are now goal-less in their last 23 power plays.

German Titov’s first-period goal gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead. They rallied form a 2-1 deficit midway through the second period, when Jeff Friesen tried to pass, only to have the puck go off the knob of Storr’s stick and into the net.

It was the type of break that made victory seemed like destiny. Except these are the Ducks.

“This is one of those things that happens,” Duck Mike Leclerc said. “It’s been happening a lot to us.”

The Kings are 7-4-3 since Andy Murray blasted them after a 4-2 loss to Detroit.

“This is a game we would have lost two or three weeks ago for sure,” Miller said.

But the public dressing down seems to have made an impact. Murray questioned his players’ integrity and wondered if they deserved to be drawing paychecks. They earned their money Sunday.

The Kings tied the score in the first period when Jason Allison lured Duck defenders Vitaly Vishnevski and Ruslan Salei toward him. He then passed to Miller, who was left alone on the right and scored his first goal in 37 games as a King.

The Kings capitalized on a five-on-three to take a 2-1 lead. Eric Belanger, standing by the left post, had his first shot stopped by Giguere, but was able to chip in the rebound.

Storr took it from there, stopping every quality chance by the Ducks. The best was a point-blank one-timer by Tverdovsky. Storr got a skate on it, leaving a perplexed Tverdovsky looking down into an empty net.

Said King Coach Andy Murray: “Maybe we were due to have a game where we got out-played and won one.”