Coyotes Fall to Kings in Los Angeles on Tuesday

STATS

Jack McBain, Nick Bjugstad, and Clayton Keller scored, but the Arizona Coyotes fell 6-3 to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. Karel Vejmelka made 15 saves after coming in for starter Connor Ingram midway through the first period.

The Kings improved to 3-2-1 with the win, while the Coyotes fell to 3-3-0.

Anže Kopitar, Trevor Lewis, Trevor Moore, Blake Lizotte, Kevin Fiala, and Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings, who have won three of their last four games. Pheonix Copley made 23 saves to earn his first win of the season, and improved to 2-0-0 against the Coyotes in his career.

"It was like a tale of two games," defenseman Troy Stecher said. "I know it's early in the season, but good teams find a way to win this game. At the end of the day we had a chance to do that, but we didn't capitalize."

Arizona and L.A. face each other again on Friday at Mullett Arena.

McBain opened the scoring 2:59 into the game, firing in a rebound following Travis Boyd’s initial shot.

The Kings then rallied with three goals in under five minutes to take a 3-1 lead, beginning with Kopitar’s power-play tally at 8:13 of the first period. Lewis and Moore then scored 1:59 apart, which ultimately ended Ingram’s night after he made six saves on nine shots.

"I don't think it was on him," head coach André Tourigny said. "The three goals were cross-ice plays, good execution from them, but it was more of a matter of changing momentum and at some point trying to get some luck."

Bjugstad brought the Coyotes to within 3-2 at 6:17 of the second period, hammering home a rebound following Lawson Crouse’s initial shot, but Lizotte answered 1:22 later to restore the Kings’ two-goal lead.

Keller then tallied a power-play goal late in the second to again pull the Coyotes to within one, bringing his team-leading goal total to four. Logan Cooley and Nick Schmaltz assisted on the play.

"We're not going to quit," Stecher said. "We're going to be in every game. We talk as a group inside, obviously we're trying to build a certain culture here and take the next step as an organization."

Fiala scored 5:35 into the final frame, poking in a rebound that strayed away from Vejmelka. Barrett Hayton appeared to pull the Coyotes to within one midway through the third period, but the play was deemed to be offside following a coach’s challenge.

Adrian Kempe rounded out the scoring with an empty net goal at 19:23 of the final frame.

Though the final score finished 6-3, Arizona was within one bounce of evening the score in the third period, battling back against one of the top defensive teams in the legaue on multiple occasions.

"It's a good team on the other side, they're one of the best defensive teams in the league, and we our share of offense," Tourigny said. "We had more possession, we had good scoring chances, and I'm proud of the way the guys battled."

Arizona is back in action on Friday against the Kings at Mullett Arena, and puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm MST, and will be available on the following networks:

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: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (Subject to change due to World Series)
Streaming: Arizona Coyotes App, Arizona Sports App