LOS ANGELES (AP) – Teemu Selanne had two goals and an assist, Rob Niedermayer scored in his 800th NHL game, and the Anaheim Ducks held off a late rally to beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 on Saturday for their fifth straight victory.

Anaheim (20-2-6) is off to the best start in franchise history, leading the NHL with 46 points. After establishing club marks last season with 43 wins, 98 points, 254 goals and 87 power-play goals, the Ducks are on pace to eclipse those totals.

Travis Moen had a goal and an assist, helping the Ducks improve to 3-0 against the fourth-place Kings and open up a 24-point margin over them in the Pacific Division standings.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 38 saves – five during a two-man advantage the Kings had for a full 2 minutes in the second period.

Scott Thornton triggered a three-goal third period for the Kings that included power-play tallies in the final 2 minutes by Rob Blake and Dustin Brown – both coming after delay-of-game penalties to Todd Marchant and Scott Niedermayer.

The Ducks led 2-0 before the Kings recorded their third shot on net. Moen opened the scoring at 4:11 of the first period, converting a rebound after Dan Cloutier stopped Samuel Pahlsson’s short backhander. Selanne scored on a one-timer from the left circle during a hooking penalty against Craig Conroy.

Anaheim extended its lead to 3-0 at 17:22 of the second when Moen’s wrist shot from the top of the right circle deflected into the net off Rob Niedermayer’s leg.

Selanne got his second of the game on another one-timer from the left circle on a setup by Chris Pronger. Selanne, who led the league in November with 10 goals and 23 points, has recorded nine of his 13 goals in the last eight games.

Cloutier was benched during each of his previous two starts, after giving up five goals on 12 shots at San Jose on Nov. 22 and three goals on five shots at Phoenix on Thursday. Kings coach Marc Crawford didn’t have much choice but to start him against Anaheim because Mathieu Garon was sidelined with a groin injury.

Notes: The Ducks have played 19 regular-season games at Staples Center since the arena opened in October 1999. This was the fourth time it wasn’t a sellout. … The teams face each other again on Sunday at Anaheim. It’s the fifth time the Kings and Ducks are playing back-to-back games against each other since the rivalry was born in 1993-94, and just the second time on consecutive days. … The Kings are 0-12 when trailing after two periods. … The Selanne-Andy McDonald-Chris Kunitz line combined for 19 goals and 19 assists the last 10 games.

AP-ES-12-02-06 1849EST

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