Mike Smith makes 41 saves in Coyotes win

LOS ANGELES -- Brendan Perlini and Jordan Martinook scored two goals apiece to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 5-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Thursday.
Tobias Rieder also scored for the Coyotes (20-29-7), who won for the third time in four games. Mike Smith made 41 saves.
The teams combined for six goals -- three each -- in the third period.

WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Kings highlights
"Good character by the guys," Perlini said. "We showed it every time they scored we scored right after, so it's all a credit to the guys and working hard and battling and not giving in."
Tanner Pearson scored two goals and had an assist, and Dustin Brown had a goal and an assist for the Kings (28-24-4), who are one point behind the Calgary Flames for the second wild card to the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Peter Budaj made 17 saves.

The Kings had been off since Feb. 9, when they defeated Florida Panthers 6-3.
"You fall behind a couple [of goals] early and you are chasing the game," Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar said. "Like I said, we just got to play better. The first goal we gave up was a power-play goal [and] you know we are talking about special teams being important against this team, and the second is almost like a stuff play on the goal line, and when you are down two you are trying to push the envelope as much as you can."
The Coyotes scored twice on their first three shots. Perlini scored a power-play goal at 4:51 of the first period, and Rieder made it 2-0 at 5:07. Rieder's goal initially was waved off, and officials stopped play after Josh Jooris appeared to score two seconds later, but a video review confirmed the goal by Rieder.
Pearson cut the lead to 2-1 at 8:38 of the third period, scoring on a rebound after an attempt by forward Jeff Carter.
The assist was the 300th of Carter's NHL career.

Perlini scored his second goal of the game, 10th of the season, at 9:55 to give the Coyotes a 3-1 lead.
Brown controlled a pass by Pearson intended for Carter just outside the crease and shot it past Smith at 11:07 to pull Los Angeles within 3-2.
Martinook scored shorthanded at 14:08 and got his 10th of the season into an empty net at 18:35 to give the Coyotes a 5-2 lead.
"I didn't want to try to take it to the net and get caught down there, so I used [Alec] Martinez as screen a bit and found a way in," Martinook said of his first goal.
Pearson scored his second goal with 23 seconds remaining to make it 5-3.

Goal of the game

Radim Vrbata sent a pass to Perlini, who misfired on his first shot, but his second attempt went past Budaj.

Save of the game

Smith made a glove save above his shoulder at 12:23 of the third period on a snap shot by Kopitar.

Unsung performance of the game

Coyotes defenseman Alex Goligoski had four blocked shots and a plus-3 rating in 24:24.

They said it

"We knew going into the third we wanted to make sure we got our fair share of offensive zone time. We were doing alright and then they came back and got one, and we got up again, so you feel like you're playing the same way and then you give up another one." -- Coyotes coach Dave Tippett
"We were coming back all the way through there. Third goal is a bad goal against, fourth goal is a long shot shorthanded goal. … It was 2-0 entering the third and [we] still believed we were going to win. Just feel like something has just got to hit you there." -- Kings coach Darryl Sutter

Need to know

Smith is 7-0-3 when facing 40 or more shots this season. … Kings forward Adrian Kempe made his NHL debut and started with the top line with Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli. Kempe had two shots and two hits in 15:18. … Pearson played his 200th NHL game.

What's next

Coyotes: Host the San Jose Sharks on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-A, CSN-CA, NHL.TV)
Kings: Host the Florida Panthers on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-F, NHL.TV)