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In the end, the Kings made more of their scoring chances and leaned a little more heavily on their goalie to seize a 3-1 victory from the Ducks that could have just as easily gone the other way with a different bounce or two.

The Kings built a 2-0 lead, watched as Ducks center Andy McDonald cut it in half 7:34 into the final period and held on behind the goaltending of Jason LaBarbera, who improved to 5-0-0. Craig Conroy added an insurance goal with 16 seconds left, swatting a fat rebound past Ilya Bryzgalov.

"Seven more of these games," Kings coach Andy Murray said. "How great is that for Southern California hockey fans? This building should be jammed with Kings fans the rest of the year. Their building should be jammed with their fans, too."

Murray might have been overselling the game just a tad. After all, it looked like just another October game for long stretches, with teams misfiring on scoring chances and taking too many penalties. The intensity of the teams was difficult to miss, however.

"We did a lot of good things and we competed," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "I've got no complaints with our group. We were down, 2-0, and went right back after them in the third period. It was close."

The first of eight games this season between the Southern California rivals lost some of its luster when each team had to play without a marquee skater. Jeremy Roenick of the Kings sat out because of groin and hamstring injuries and Sergei Fedorov of the Ducks did not play because of a groin injury.

Roenick's absence was a surprise only to anyone who hasn't seen him lumber around the ice in recent games. He played 17 minutes during the Kings' 3-2 loss Sunday night to the Calgary Flames, but was invisible for long stretches and admitted to reporters Monday that he's "going one way and the puck is going the other."

"It's frustrating," Roenick said. "You don't want to miss a game like this, but sometimes it's best to listen to the trainers. The boys were awesome tonight."

The game also was missing another intriguing matchup: Kings pest Sean Avery versus Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Avery said during a pregame television interview Tuesday that he planned to shoot pucks at Giguere's head.

Giguere had called Avery a "moron" last month after Avery disparaged French-Canadian players after Denis Gauthier of the Phoenix Coyotes gave Roenick a concussion during an exhibition game.

Giguere did not play because of a groin injury, yielding to Bryzgalov (1-3-0). Avery was a non-factor, yielding the role of troublemaker to Dustin Brown, who had several molar-rattling checks.

The Kings took a two-goal lead into the third period, but it wasn't the most secure advantage they had built this season. After all, they led the Flames by two goals after the first period Sunday and then spent the final 40 minutes giving the lead away.

Mike Cammalleri swept a fat rebound behind Bryzgalov with the Kings skating five-on-three with 10 seconds left in the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Luc Robitaille made it 2-0 with 3:01 left in the second on a double deflection of defenseman Joe Corvo's shot from the left point. Teammate Derek Armstrong tipped the puck before Robitaille got his stick to it. Robitaille moved within five goals of tying Marcel Dionne's franchise record of 550.

Bryzgalov was the least of the Ducks' troubles after 40 minutes. Giguere could be in goal tonight, when the Ducks begin a four-game homestand against the Flames.

"He did all we could ask from a goalie tonight," Carlyle said of Bryzgalov. "You don't expect your goaltender to win you games, but you expect him to give you a chance to win the game, and he did that tonight. We had to kill two five-on-threes tonight and we killed all but 10 seconds of them."

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