Rittich makes 28 saves, Kings defeat Ducks to gain in Pacific race

LOS ANGELES -- David Rittich made 28 saves for the Los Angeles Kings in a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kevin Fiala and Matt Roy scored for the Kings (43-26-11), who have won five of their past six and moved three points ahead of the idle Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Division.

“We have a good team, we have a lot of depth, and when you’re not concentrating on getting the right matchup every time, the whole bench can feel good,” Dubois said. “Every line contributed, everybody played well. We played seven D, 11 forwards, but I thought everybody really played a good game tonight.”

Los Angeles center Anze Kopitar did not play because of an undisclosed injury and is day to day. Interim coach Jim Hiller said the absence was precautionary and Kopitar likely would have played if the game had greater significance.

“We’re glad he can get some rest, and we’re definitely going to need him more moving forward, so we’re all OK with it,” Roy said.

Trevor Zegras scored, and Lukas Dostal made 25 saves for the Ducks (26-50-5), who have lost four of five.

“They’ve got good, high-end players that can score if you give them chances,” Anaheim forward Troy Terry said. “You don't want to give up power plays, and I think that's kind of the difference tonight.”

Dubois gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 2:45 of the second period on the power play, scoring near the right post.

With Kopitar out, Dubois worked with the first power play in a position which was more familiar to him.

“I’ve never really played on the half-wall in my career, so to get back netfront is more what I’ve done basically my entire life,” Dubois said. “There’s an area of comfort, I think. To get back to what you’ve done for the past nine years of your life, it feels good.”

Rittich made a pad save on Frank Vatrano’s short-handed breakaway at 8:57 of the second to preserve the lead.

Rittich, who took over as starter Cam Talbot’s backup after Pheonix Copley tore his ACL in practice on Dec. 17, improved to 13-6-3.

“He just comes in and plays well,” Hiller said. “So that’s a really, really strong attribute by a goaltender that you don’t have to be in rhythm to be able to play well. So, give him credit, he made some saves tonight and was probably the difference in the game.”

Roy extended it 2-0 at 10:33 on a wrist shot from the blue line through traffic.

Zegras cut it to 2-1 at 11:18 of the third period with a wrist shot from the left circle during a 4-on-4.

“Smart change by Leo (Carlsson),” Zegras said. “I don't think they saw me coming off the bench. I had a little bit of space and just threw it on net.”

Fiala scored on a wraparound at the right post for the 3-1 final at 17:42.

Hiller credited Dubois, Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe for their work on the prior shift, leading to an offensive-zone face-off ahead of Fiala’s 29th goal.

“The shift before we scored, I think the Dubois line was out there for about a 40-second shift in the O-zone,” Hiller said. “I thought that was probably the most important shift of the game. And then [Blake Lizotte] came out and those guys got on the face-off, ‘Kev’ scored the big goal.”

NOTES: The Kings have won eight straight at home. It is their longest streak since Oct. 12 -- Nov. 13, 2010, and is the fifth time in franchise history they have won at least eight in a row on home-ice. … Drew Doughty had an assist to reach the 50-point mark (15 goals, 35 assists) for the fifth time in his NHL career. He passed Rob Blake (four) for the most such seasons by a defenseman in Kings history. … Kings rookie forward Akil Thomas, playing in his sixth NHL game, had an assist to extend his point streak to three games (two goals, one assist).