Ducks prevent Kings from clinching playoff bid

Lukas Dostal made 36 saves and Ryan Strome had two assists as the Anaheim Ducks recorded a 3-1 win over the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

The Ducks ended a two-game winless streak (0-1-1) and won for just the third time in their past 17 games (3-12-2).

Frank Vatrano, Alex Killorn, and Trevor Zegras scored three unanswered goals for the Ducks (26-48-5, 57 points) after Akil Thomas gave the Kings a first-period lead.

Dostal improved his season record to 13-22-3.

Cam Talbot stopped 24 of 27 shots for the Kings, whose three-game winning streak ended.

Los Angeles (41-26-11, 93 points) would have officially clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs with a win. The Kings are a point ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Division, and Vegas is five points up on the St. Louis Blues for the final Western Conference wild-card berth.

Anaheim was 0-7-1 in its previous eight games with Los Angeles, dating back to the 2021-22 season. It was tied for the third-longest winless streak against a single opponent in Ducks franchise history.

Thomas' tip-in opened the scoring 5:50 into the first period. It was Thomas' second goal in his fourth career NHL game.

Vatrano equalized for the Ducks at 17:46 of the first period, tallying his team-leading 33rd goal. Radko Gudas' initial shot found a wide-open Vatrano in front, and the forward's second chance beat Talbot.

Killorn had a seeming power-play goal erased on video review 1:35 into the third period, after the Kings challenged that the forward was offside earlier in the play. Just 16 seconds after the non-goal, Killorn left no doubt when he buried a shot from the slot for his 18th goal of the season.

At 5:50 of the third period, Zegras took the puck away from Kings defenseman Jordan Spence near center ice. Zegras carried the puck into Anaheim's zone and converted a wrist shot for the unassisted goal.