For 60 minutes, two hated rivals played close, heavy-hitting, "big-boy" hockey, as it's come to be known on the West Coast. It was as evenly matched as a game could be for three periods.
But in just 45 seconds, Ryan Kesler gave the Anaheim Ducks the advantage. All of his opponents lost track of him as he skated effortlessly around the net, caught the goaltender looking one way and shot it another.
Thanks to Kesler, the Ducks bested their Freeway Faceoff rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, for the fourth time this season, in a 3-2 overtime win Wednesday night at the Honda Center.
Now that the five-game series is wrapped up and the Ducks are 4-0-1 against L.A., there's no question as to what has changed since the Kings eliminated the Ducks in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals last season: Kesler has been the undisputed difference-maker in the series.
"Kesler's been -- I can't say other than against us -- but he's been a dominant player, for sure, in these five games against us," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "And if you looked before the game, and I think against us in the four games coming in, Getzlaf, Perry and Kesler have eight or nine goals. He's been a dominant player for them."
It's no secret that the former Vancouver center was brought to Anaheim to help the Ducks remove that crown. Thus far, the move has paid off: Kesler has five goals, two assists and is plus-1 in five games against L.A. What's most telling is the player he is tasked with shutting down, Kings center Anze Kopitar, has six points and is a minus-3.
"He's a smart player, he has an assignment every night against these guys and he takes it to heart and does a great job," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "To me it was really nice to see him score the overtime goal because I thought he deserved it. He had chances earlier, he was in the right position and he deserved it and I'm glad he got it."
The goal was the 200th of his career. His goalie, John Gibson, had a feeling he was going to get it all night. Kesler himself was enjoying a playoff-like atmosphere, the crowd and his teammates keeping him motivated, he demurred. But the role of King killer is one he's a little more familiar with than he lets on.
Kesler has seven points in 17 career games at the Staples Center. He helped eliminate the Kings in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Although he's done a great job of it, it's hard to ignore the chatter and the reasoning behind the move to grab one of the best two-way centers in the Pacific Division.
"You hear about why you're brought here and stuff like that," he said. "Obviously it's a team game, but for me, yeah you want to put your best foot forward and you want to make them happy that they brought you here and succeeded in why they brought you here. I thought the team played well tonight, and it's not just me against the Kings, it's the whole team. We play hard against them and we definitely deserve these wins that we've been getting."
With 97 points, the Ducks are still the best team in the league. They don't want to be chased by the Kings, Boudreau made that clear in the morning skate when he said as much. But L.A. is still in the mix for a spot and unless the Kings can significantly make up ground in the next few weeks, they'll likely be starting the playoffs right back at the Honda Center in yet another edition of Freeway Faceoff fury.
And for Kesler, he'll pay out the Ducks in dividends should he help eliminate the Kings once again.
"I don't know, obviously these are the games you get up for because they're rivalry games and I thrive in these games," he said. "I guess you can say it's the matchup."
