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ANAHEIM http://www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-michael-gallup-jersey , Calif. — The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks meet for the fifth and final time this season in a pivotal game for both team’s playoff chances Friday night at Honda Center

The Kings (43-28-7) enter the second contest of a back-to-back set on a two-game winning streak. They defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-2 on Thursday night at Staples Center.

Jeff Carter registered his sixth career hat trick and his first since March 4, 2013 against the Nashville Predators. Anze Kopitar added an empty-netter to set a career high with 35 goals and Jack Campbell stopped 20 of 22 shots for the victory.

The victory extended Los Angeles’ lead over Anaheim for third place in the Pacific to two points with the Ducks holding a game in hand. This will be the final road game for the Kings as they finish the season with three consecutive home contests against Colorado, Minnesota and Dallas.

Kings coach John Stevens knows his team is far more formidable with Carter in the lineup. After missing 55 games because of an ankle tendon injury, Carter has returned with a flourish, registering 13 goals in his last 17 games to help Los Angeles close in on a postseason berth.

“His presence in a lot of areas just checks a lot of boxes, but he’s a production guy,” Stevens said. “He ends up in the scoring areas, he goes to the tough areas. He scores goals that other guys can’t. That last goal for me was very impressive. He pulled the puck off the wall and he got at the net quickly.

“Jeff’s a production guy, but he provides leadership, he provides faceoff help, penalty kill, and really quality minutes against pretty much anyone you play him with. He’s been a big addition back in our lineup.”

The Ducks (39-25-13) are looking to make amends after one of their worst performances of the season. In the midst of a hotly contested Western Conference playoff race, they dropped a 4-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night. Though they enter the game in playoff position as the second wild card in the West http://www.coltsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-tyquan-lewis-jersey , they realize their sense of urgency must be far greater in their final five games of the season.

Anaheim has made the playoffs for five consecutive seasons and like the Kings they have an advantageous home schedule to close out the season. The Los Angeles contest starts a four-game homestand as the Ducks face similar opponents in Colorado, Minnesota and Dallas before concluding the season in Arizona on April 7.

The Ducks addressed their lack of intensity with frankness as arguably the biggest non-playoff game in the Southern California rivalry known as “The Freeway Faceoff” approaches.

“We just don’t feel that we’ve played enough consistently to the level we’re capable of,” coach Randy Carlyle said after the Vancouver loss.

Captain Ryan Getzlaf went into more depth about the team’s mental approach that has been questioned given their inconsistent play.

“Most of it’s mental,” Getzlaf told the Orange County Register. “You have to mentally be able to control the grind of a season. And you’re at the time of year where we’re grinding. We’re pedaling to get in. Every game is really important. Every day. You don’t get days off. And that’s the hardest thing this time of year brings. That grind of a season is now on your back and now you’ve got five games left.”

The Kings won the first two games of the season series, 4-3 in overtime on Nov. 7 and a 2-1 shootout victory on Nov. 25 but the Ducks evened the series with a 4-2 win Jan. 13 and a 2-1 victory Jan. 19. Both teams have recorded a road win in their two victories.

The toughness that Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and the rest of the veterans brought to the Minnesota Timberwolves this season was on display from start to finish.

Finally, after a 14-year absence, the long-languishing franchise is back in the playoffs.

Fittingly, it took until the last game and then some to get there.

Butler scored 31 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points and 14 rebounds, and the Timberwolves outlasted the Denver Nuggets 112-106 in overtime Wednesday night in the first final-day play-in game in the NBA in 21 years.

No team in the league had gone longer without a postseason appearance than the Timberwolves, who took Towns with the first overall pick in the 2015 draft and traded for Butler last summer to put themselves in position to return.

”I’ll probably fall asleep tonight and wake up in the middle of the night and start crying,” said Towns http://www.jetsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-nathan-shepherd-jersey , who was 8 years old the last time the Wolves were in the playoffs. ”It’ll hit me, what happened.”

The Nuggets won six in a row to force this elimination game, including a 100-96 decision in Denver last week that was the last time the Wolves (47-35) played without Butler, and went 23-12 over their previous 35 contests.

Nikola Jokic locked in a classic big man battled with Towns, finishing with 35 points and 10 rebounds, but he missed six of his last eight shots after the third quarter as the valiant finish to this season fell just short. The Nuggets (46-36) haven’t made the playoffs in five years.

Now it’s the Timberwolves who are moving on to play, gulp, the NBA-best Houston Rockets.

”I feel like our effort was outstanding. Theirs was too,” said Will Barton, who had 24 points but shot just 3 for 12 after halftime. ”They just made the plays at the end. Give them credit.”

Barton’s 3-pointer beat the shot clock for Denver’s first lead, 104-103, since midway through the first quarter. After Gibson hounded Jokic to force an air-balled 3-point try, Jeff Teague swished a floater with 1:19 left in overtime to put the Wolves back in front for good.

Andrew Wiggins sank two foul shots with 15 seconds remaining to make it 110-106 and finish with 18 points Sam Darnold Jets Jersey , and the Wolves were finally on their way to a celebration more than a decade in the making. Butler, who has not held back from openly challenging Wiggins and the other junior members of the team to play with more tenacity, walked up to Wiggins before the free throws with some forceful encouragement.

”I was like, `Wiggs, I know you can do this,”’ Butler said. ”And he told me to move. He did. He’s like, `Move!’ I’m like, `OK, excuse me.’ And he stepped up and hit both of them. So, from now on, stay in my lane.”

The Wolves were ahead by as many as 10 points in the second quarter and took a 99-91 lead on Teague’s 3-pointer with 4:26 left in regulation, but just like with this whole regular season the Nuggets wouldn’t go away.

Jokic answered with a 3-pointer, and Butler missed both of his free throws. Back-to-back jumpers by Jamal Murray Tyquan Lewis Color Rush Jersey , the last one from 3-point range, tied it. Butler put the Wolves back in front with a 13-footer, but he missed twice more from the floor in the final two minutes. Murray’s off-balance bank tied it at 101, so the Wolves needed Gibson’s defense to save them down the stretch.

He forced Jokic into the baseline for a forced layup that missed badly. Then Gibson stripped the ball from the 7-foot Serbian in the corner to give the Wolves the ball back with 1.6 seconds remaining in regulation. Jamal Crawford’s heave from just inside half court was on line, but it fell short.

”I just took one dribble,” Jokic said, ”and Taj made a really good defensive play.”

PLAY NOW, REST LATER

Gibson played through a sore neck that forced him out of the last game in the first quarter, finishing with eight points in 35 minutes. Butler logged 42 minutes after playing 23 minutes apiece in his previous two games.

”He told me after the shootaround that he’s from Brooklyn,” coach Tom Thibodeau said, ”and he said he’d be fine.”

DRAMATIC FINISH

The game marked only the third time since the NBA’s current 16-team format began in 1984 that two teams met on the last day of the regular season with the winner qualifying for the playoffs and the loser being eliminated. Washington beat Cleveland in 1997 and Denver beat Sacramento in 1995 to claim the final spots.

DIVISION DOMINANCE

With the loss, the Nuggets finished last in the Northwest Division, a mere three games out of first. This was the first time in 14 seasons since the NBA realigned into six divisions of five times apiece that the last-place team was less than 11 games behind the leader.

TIP-INS

Nuggets: Jokic posted his seventh 30-point game of the season Korey Toomer Color Rush Jersey , three of those in the last six games. … Wilson Chandler went scoreless in 48 minutes. … The Nuggets had 15 turnovers, turning into 24 points for the Wolves.

”You can’t go on the road and beat yourself in the most important game of the season,” coach Mike Malone said.

Timberwolves: Towns finished the season with 68 double-doubles, the most in the NBA. His streak of 246 consecutive games played, every contest of his career, is the longest current run in the league. … This was the 16th sellout crowd for the Wolves, their most since the 1991-92 season.

UP NEXT

The Wolves will start the first round in Houston, on either Saturday or Sunday.

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By chenyan
Added Aug 10 '18

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