In the year's last game before the holiday break, the Kings traveled to Tempe, Arizona for the first and only time this season to face the Arizona Coyotes. Played in the 4,600-seat Mullett Arena, the Kings came into the game having played the previous night in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Calgary Flames, while the Coyotes had the previous night off.
With both teams in their Reverse Retro jerseys, the low event game saw just two regulation goals. One goal coming from each side, both teams scored on the man advantage in a game that saw eight combined power plays. The Coyotes struck first with a 5-on-3 goal just eight seconds into the two-man advantage when Clayton Keller connected with Nick Schmaltz back door to give the home team a 1-0 lead just under 10 minutes into the game.
Taking a 1-0 lead into the second period, a Nick Ritchie holding penalty on Drew Doughty opened the door for a Kings power play. Just under one minute into the power play, Sean Durzi and Phillip Danault worked the puck over to Alex Iafallo, who unloaded on a one-timer to even the game. With the secondary assist, Durzi reached the 20-point mark (4-16=20) for a second consecutive season. Durzi becomes just the fourth Kings defenseman in the past 25 years to have recorded 20-plus points in each of their first two or more consecutive seasons in the NHL, including current Kings defenseman Drew Doughty (15 seasons: 2008-09 to 2022-23). Furthermore, in picking up the primary assist, Phillip Danault extended his point streak into a fourth game (2-2=4) to match his season high (Oct. 22 - 29; 2-2=4 points).
Following the Iafallo goal with 8:06 to go in the game's middle frame, the remaining 28:06 of overtime would go scoreless, sending the Kings into their fifth overtime game in their last seven outings. With the penalty kill coming up big for a fifth time in the game, the Kings survived a 4-on-3 two minute penalty and pushed the tilt to a shootout. There, the Kings fell 1-0, sending the Kings back to Los Angeles with their winning streak ending a four games.
Jonathan Quick started in net for the Kings for the first time since December 11th and allowed just the single regulation goal on 24 shots.
12/23 FINAL - Kings 1, Coyotes 2 (SO)
LAK Recap: Iafallo nets lone Kings goal in SO loss
