National Hockey League
Kings 3, Ducks 1
National Hockey League

Kings 3, Ducks 1

Published Oct. 1, 2011 5:42 a.m. ET

Defenseman Willie Mitchell got the go-ahead goal at 14:17 of the third period, Mike Richards also scored and Jonathan Bernier made 28 saves for the Los Angeles Kings in a 3-1 preseason victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.

Teemu Selanne scored for the Ducks, who had won their previous three games.

Jonas Hiller stopped 12 of 13 shots for Anaheim before Dan Ellis replaced him midway through the second period with the Ducks trailing 1-0.

Hiller has given up just three goals on 67 shots in three preseason starts after a lengthy bout with vertigo following the All-Star break. Ellis turned aside 16 of the 17 shots he faced.

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Anze Kopitar scored an empty-net goal for the Kings with 26 seconds to play.

The Kings got a break when an attempted clearing pass by the Ducks inadvertently struck a linesman and bounced back toward the Anaheim blue line.

Mitchell got the puck from Simon Gagne and beat Ellis to the glove side with a slap shot from the left circle for his first goal of the preseason.

Richards, who came to the Kings in a June 23 trade after averaging 28 goals over the previous four seasons with Philadelphia, opened the scoring at 1:08 of the second period when he got the puck from Dwight King and beat Hiller from short range for his first preseason goal.

Anaheim's Maxime Macenauer got the first penalty of the game 3 minutes into the period for goalie interference, after he was thwarted by Bernier on a solo rush and crashed into him.

But the Kings came up empty on the power play, and the Ducks tied it at 10:53 of the second on Selanne's one-timer from the left circle while Jarret Stoll was off for cross-checking.

The Ducks and Kings, who open the regular season overseas, won't be back in Southern California until mid-October.

Anaheim hosts San Jose on Oct. 14 in the Honda Center opener, and Los Angeles hosts St. Louis on Oct. 18 in the Staples Center opener.

Last season marked the first time the Ducks and Kings made it to the playoffs in the same year, and both were knocked out in the opening round. They begin their six-game season series with a home-and-home set Nov. 16-17.

The Ducks (3-4-0) conclude their preseason schedule next Tuesday in Helsinki, Finland, against the Jokrit club before opening their season with games against the Buffalo Sabres in Helsinki on Oct. 7, and the New York Rangers on Oct. 8 in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Kings (3-1-2) continue their preseason schedule Saturday night at Las Vegas against the Colorado Avalanche.

They have one more preseason game in Hamburg, Germany, before opening the regular season against the Rangers on Oct. 7 at Stockholm and play the following day in Berlin against the Sabres.

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