Coyotes Fall to Kings at Mullett Arena on Friday

STATS

Matias Maccelli, Jack McBain, J.J. Moser, and Sean Durzi scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 36 saves, but the Arizona Coyotes fell to the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 at Mullett Arena on Friday.

Drew Doughty scored twice, Mikey Anderson, Quinton Byfield and Anže Kopitar each added goals, and Cam Talbot made 17 saves after coming in for Pheonix Copley midway through the first to earn the win.

The Kings (4-2-1) used four unanswered goals over the last two periods to rally from a 4-1 first-period deficit, and have now won four of their last five games. Arizona (3-4-0) has dropped two straight, and hosts the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday.

"It's a tough one to swallow," head coach André Tourigny said. "You have a lead at home, and the way we've battled since the start of the season, we took a lot of pride in that when we've trailed, we've battled back hard. Tonight, we were on our heels, and when we play that style of hockey and we don't have the same pace and aggression in our game, we're vulnerable."

The game started with fast-and-furious scoring, beginning with Maccelli's goal 37 seconds into the opening period. The 23-year-old registered his first goal of the season after skating the puck in before beating Copley with a wrister to make it 1-0.

Anderson responded at 5:56 of the first period to tie it, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush to even the score at one.

The Coyotes then took over the first period, starting with Moser’s goal. The puck took a funny hop off the top of the net before coming to rest next to Copley, and Moser corralled it before tucking it in to put Arizona back up by one.

McBain followed 35 seconds later, redirecting Liam O’Brien’s shot past Copley. That spelled the end of the night for L.A.’s netminder -- who stopped just three of six shots -- though Durzi beat Talbot almost immediately after he entered the game in relief. The 25-year-old Durzi, who played 136 games with the Kings, now has three goals and two assists in seven games with the Coyotes this season.

Vejmelka earned a secondary assist on the play, marking the netminder’s first career helper. Maccelli, Moser, McBain, and Durzi combined for the second-fastest four goals to start a game in Coyotes/Jets history (8:55); The only faster instance was in 7:08 against the Predators on March 28, 2013.

From there, though, the Kings rallied back with four goals of their own to ultimately win the game.

"Obviously a tough blow here, being up 4-1 after 10 minutes and still losing the game," Moser said. "We just have to stick together and find a way to close out these games better in the future."

Doughty started the rally after he registered a power-play goal at 16:11 of the second period before Byfield’s goal at 1:49 of the third pulled them to within one.

Kopitar tied the game at 6:54 of the third before Doughty ultimately scored the game-winner with 1:59 remaining, his second goal of the night.

"It's not one game that defines who you are as a team, it's how you bounce back from those games," Tourigny said. "I think that will define who we are, more than the way we played tonight."

The Coyotes are back in action on Monday at Mullett Arena against the Chicago Blackhawks. Puck Drop is scheduled for 7 pm, and the game will be broadcast on the following stations:

WHERE TO WATCH:
• Antenna: 15.2 Phoenix, 9.2 Tucson, 15.2 Cottonwood/Prescott/Flagstaff/Lake Havasu/Kingman
• Streaming: N/A
• Phoenix Cable: Cox 95, Orbitel 200, Mediacom 107 (Pinal County)
• Tucson Cable: Cox 85, Xfinity 1179, Orbitel 208
• Flagstaff: American Cable channel 4
• Sedona: Optimum Cable channel 6
• Prescott: Cable One Prescott channel 61

WHERE TO LISTEN:
Radio: ESPN 620 AM
Streaming: Arizona Coyotes App, Arizona Sports App