"Never has a victory in December been so important to Bruce Boudreau as the Ducks' dramatic 3-2 triumph over the Kings Tuesday at Honda Center.

In each of his first two games since he replaced Randy Carlyle as the Ducks' coach his team built and squandered a 2-0 lead and lost. The Ducks followed that pattern Tuesday until a shot by Bobby Ryan following a faceoff in the Kings' zone caromed off defenseman Drew Doughty and popped beyond the reach of Jonathan Quick with 48.8 seconds left.

"It's not the Cup," Boudreau said, "but it felt pretty good, there's no doubt.""