Doughty, Kempe score twice in Kings’ 5-3 victory over Arizona Coyotes

article

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Drew Doughty and Adrian Kempe scored two goals apiece and the Los Angeles Kings rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.

Doughty, Kempe and Trevor Moore each scored in a 3:39 span early the third period as the Kings overcame a two-goal deficit for the second time in two nights, following a 4-3 overtime victory at Vegas on Friday. Cal Petersen had 20 saves.

"Every game is a basically a playoff game for us right now," Doughty said. "We always know we have the fight. We always know we don’t give up. We play hard right to the end. That’s one of the reasons why we’re in the spot we are. We have guys that work their bags off."

The Kings are 6-0-2 in their last eight road games and have won their last six games in Arizona.

"The ability to play four lines, trust everybody, good goaltending," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "Playing to our identity. And the guys have done a good job of managing themselves away from the rink, making sure they are fresh and able to give what’s in the tank."

Clayton Keller, Lawson Crouse and Anton Strålman scored and Karel Vejmelka stopped 34 shots for the Coyotes, who were playing their first game in eight days.

Arizona held a 3-1 lead until Doughty scored his first goal on a power play with 1:27 left in the second period.

Moore tied it at at 6:24 of the third when he flicked the puck into an open side, and Doughty put the Kings ahead with an unassisted goal 48 seconds later on a wrist shot from the left circle.

Kempe’s power play goal midway through the period made it 5-3. The Kings were 2 for 4 on the power play and killed all three of their penalties,

"Penalty kill game up big, did its thing again, and obviously the power play got us the win," McLellan said. "It’s been awhile since we said the special teams probably won us a game, and tonight was that night."

Strålman gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead at 8:52 of the first period when his centering pass from behind the Kings’ net caromed off a Los Angeles player in the crease and got past Petersen.

Kempe tied it with his first goal 12 seconds later on a quick one-timer from the left circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Anze Kopitar.

Crouse gave Arizona a 2-1 lead at 7:41 of the second, on the Coyotes’ second shot of the period, finding an open right side after a pass from Alex Galchenyuk.

Keller made it 3-1 five minutes later, when his shot from the right circle hit the cross bar before caroming into the net before Doughty closed it to 3-2 late in the period.

"That put us back on our heels," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. "I didn’t like the way we played in the third. I thought we froze, kind of. We forced things and got out of our structure a little bit."

NOTES: The Coyotes acquired F Nick Ritchie from Toronto for D Ilya Lyubushkin and F Ryan Dzingel and in a trade that was announced during the second period. The Coyotes also receive a conditional draft pick, a third-round pick in 2022 or a second-round pick in 2025. "Nick makes us a bigger, stronger tougher team," Arizona general manager Bill Armstrong said. "We’ve been a club right now that has tried to generate assets. That’s been our game plan since I came in." ... Galchenyuk had his 200th career assist on Crouse’s goal. ... The game was originally scheduled for Dec. 27 but was postponed when the NHL extended its holiday break for COVID-19 testing reasons. The teams meet again in Arizona on Wednesday. ... The Kings have alternated goaltenders Petersen and Jonathan Quick in the last 15 games, during which they are 9-6. ... Arizona F Barrett Hayton retuned after missing 16 games because of hand surgery.

UP NEXT

Kings: At Arizona on Wednesday night.

Coyotes: Host Dallas on Sunday night.