Stoll brought the Kings even at 9:49 when he took a pass from Simon Gagne and shot from the right circle, with Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller seemingly not seeing the shot.
The second period was equally frantic. Brown scored his second goal of the game, at 1:15, when he swept in the rebound of a shot by Doughty. Soon after, hostilities became fisticuffs when Stoll pushed Fowler into the boards. Jordan Nolan and Bryan Allen each got five minutes for fighting; a woozy Fowler was helped to the locker room.
The Ducks capitalized on a tripping penalty on Kopitar to take a 4-3 lead at 9:35, when a blistering shot by Sheldon Souray found its way through heavy traffic and past Bernier. The Kings matched that at 14:12, when Justin Williams’ wraparound attempt hit Hiller in the shoulder and bounced behind in and in.
Everyone in the Honda Center -- which seemed evenly divided between Ducks and Kings fans -- knew that wouldn’t be the final goal. They were right. With Nolan off serving a holding penalty, Kyle Palmieri whipped a shot past Bernier from the high slot at 16:14, giving the Ducks a 5-4 lead.
Bonino completed his hat trick at 8:39 and Selanne applied the final flourish at 17:54, leaving the Kings to put the pieces of their defense back together and the Ducks to enjoy another step forward.
“Everybody’s got to play on the right side of the puck to win in this league. You play on the wrong side of the puck, there’s a good chance you’re going to lose,” Sutter said. “You give up four goals, you’re not going to win.”
And they didn’t.
helene.elliott@latimes.com
Twitter: @helenenothelen