Anaheim, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Devante Smith-Pelly scored twice and the Anaheim Ducks held on for a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday in Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinal series.
For the first time in this matchup, the home team won a game and it gave the Ducks a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven set. Anaheim will have its first chance to close out the series on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
"It's huge. That's a pretty good team over there and we don't want to give them too many chances to get off the mat," said Smith-Pelly about the upcoming game. "We're going to be ready for that game, for sure."
Nick Bonino and Jakob Silfverberg also scored goals for the Ducks, who have won three straight games after dropping the first two at home.
Rookie goaltender John Gibson, fresh off a shutout in his playoff debut in Game 4, made 39 saves to help Anaheim move within a win of its first appearance in the conference finals since 2007, when the team won its only Stanley Cup title.
"I think I got tested more," said Gibson. "I got more shots, and the guys did a really good job in front of me again. That's why we're winning."
Marian Gaborik lit the lamp twice and Trevor Lewis once for the Kings. Jonathan Quick give up all four goals on 24 shots in the loss.
"Now we have to go home and win a home game," said Los Angeles forward Anze Kopitar. "That's the bottom line. There is no secret to it. We want to come back here and give us a chance."
With the score tied in the second period, the Ducks took charge with three straight goals.
The first goal came just 1:11 in, as Teemu Selanne grabbed a dump-in off the back board and skated to the left of the net. Selanne then sent a pass to the right side where Mathieu Perreault one-timed the puck and it knicked off Smith-Pelly for a power-play goal.
Just 1:23 later, Anaheim made it a 3-1 game when Ryan Getzlaf picked off an Alec Martinez pass in the neutral zone and skated in down the right wing before chipping a pass down low where Smith-Pelly switched to the backhand and lifted the puck in for his fifth of the playoffs.
It was a 4-1 game at 8:23 after Andrew Cogliano fired a shot on net from the left circle that Quick stopped, but Silfverberg was there to slam in the rebound for his second of the playoffs.
The Kings, though, caught a break with 2:03 to play in the second when Smith- Pelly was handed a double-minor for high sticking on Drew Doughty.
Jeff Carter skated around the ice and sent a pass to the front that Gaborik tipped on net, but Gibson made the stop. The rebound, though, came all the way to the left circle where Jake Muzzin pushed it back to the front and this time Gaborik got it in for a 4-2 game with 1:18 left in the second.
Gibson made stops on Tanner Pearson and Gaborik in the early parts of the third period to keep the two-goal game, but the Kings trimmed the deficit to one with 5:48 to play.
Dustin Brown threw a backhand shot on net from the left point that Gaborik got a tip on, and the puck then hit off the skate of Sami Vatanen on its way into the net for a 4-3 game.
Gibson was there, though, to preserve the win, as he made a good stop on a Brown shot inside of two minutes to play, then turned aside a Doughty tip on net with under a minute to play to give his team the win.
Anaheim got the first goal of the game just 2:15 in when Bonino beat Quick with a wrister from the right circle, but a bad line change by Anaheim helped Los Angeles tie the game seven minutes later when Lewis grabbed a loose puck and snapped a wrister on net, deflecting off of Bryan Allen, for his third of the playoffs.
Game Notes
Both teams went 1-for-3 on the power play ... Gaborik leads all players with eight goals in the playoffs, while Kopitar has 16 points for the top spot in the postseason ... Getzlaf has 14 points this postseason to lead Anaheim.
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