Mighty Ducks 4, Kings 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Anaheim Mighty Ducks didn't have to travel very far to find success on a crucial five-game road trip.

Chris Kunitz scored two goals and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 25 saves for his 28th victory of the season as the Ducks beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Saturday.

Rob Niedermayer and Joffrey Lupul also scored for Anaheim, which maintained fifth-place in the Western Conference.

The Ducks will play four of their final five games on the road. The team can clinch a playoff spot with a win at Vancouver on Monday before traveling to Calgary, Edmonton and San Jose.

"It was huge win for us, we are one step closer" said Giguere. "Its good because we need to prove to ourselves that we can play good on the road before the playoffs start. There are another four big games coming up."

Andy McDonald and Teemu Selanne each had two assists for Anaheim.

Craig Conroy and Nathan Dempsey scored for the Kings, who have netted six goals in their last six games.

The 10th-place Kings have three games left to maneuver into a playoff spot. They trail San Jose by four points for eighth place.

"We have no confidence in our ability and no confidence that we are doing it right," said Kings forward Jeremy Roenick. "We just made too many mistakes. We are afraid of failure and doing something wrong."

Anaheim won the last four meetings between the Southern California teams, taking the season series with a 5-2-1 mark.

Niedermayer deflected in a shot by Francois Beauchmin 2:45 into the game and Lupul tapped in a feed from Selanne on a power play five minutes later to give the Ducks an early 2-0 lead.

"We had a good start, I think they came out a little flat but the two goals in the first period were the difference," said Selanne.

Conroy got the Kings back into the game with a power-play goal in the second period.

But Anaheim quickly responded 28 seconds later, as Kunitz fired a 30-foot wrist shot past Kings goalie Mathieu Garon to make it 3-1.

"That's the character in this room. Just because they capitalized on a chance doesn't mean we can't go out and get one back one or two shifts later," said Kunitz. He scored his second of the game during an Anaheim power play in the third period.

The Kings were hampered by a 1-for-9 effort on the power play, including an extended two-man advantage in the middle period.

"If we executed on our five-on-threes it's a different game," said Los Angeles interim head coach John Torchetti.

Dempsey, who was returning after missing six games with a concussion, scored on a slap shot with just over 2 minutes to play.

Notes: Kings defenseman Joe Corvo was a healthy scratch. Corvo was the only Los Angeles player who had skated in all of the team's games this season. ... McDonald's assist on the first Kunitz goal was the 200th of his career.