Raanta makes 43 saves, boosts Coyotes past Kings

Antti Raanta made 43 saves and the Arizona Coyotes ended the Los Angeles Kings' five-game home winning streak with a 3-2 win at Staples Center on Saturday.

Phil Kessel, Lawson Crouse and Christian Fischer scored for the Coyotes (14-8-2), who are 6-1-1 in their past eight road games. Kessel's goal was his first in 11 games.
The Kings (9-13-1) have lost twice in their past six games, with both losses to Raanta and the Coyotes. Raanta made 31 saves in the Coyotes' 3-0 victory against the Kings at Gila River Arena on Monday.
WATCH: [All Coyotes vs. Kings Highlights]
"We're happy to get the two points," said Coyotes forward Vinnie Hinostroza, who had an assist. "All year, both our goalies (Raanta and Darcy Kuemper) have been unreal. Anytime either of them is in net, we have all the confidence in the world in them."
Jonathan Quick made 16 saves for the Kings, who lost despite outshooting the Coyotes 45-19.
"It was a much better effort than what we saw Monday in Arizona, I thought we created more and we played with more authority," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "We didn't start that way, but from later in the first period on we had what we needed to give ourselves a chance."
Raanta is 5-0-1 in six career starts against the Kings, allowing eight goals.
"Even though they had a lot of shots, I was able to see many, many of the shots," Raanta said. "There's a couple where you need to have a little bit of luck, and we were able to have that luck today."
Kessel scored on a power play off a give-and-go with Clayton Keller to make it 1-0 at 10:24 of the first period. Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet paired Kessel and Keller on a line with Derek Stepan to try to get all three forwards going.

"It was a power play breakout, I was lucky to get inside and he (Keller) made a great play back. That one wasn't too hard," Kessel said. "It was nice to get one of those."
Anze Kopitar tied it 1-1 on a backdoor pass from Drew Doughty on a Kings power play at 2:25 of the second. Kopitar's goal was his fifth in nine games, and Doughty's assist was his sixth in five games.
"In the second period we got a little sloppy and they put a lot of pressure on us, but sometimes you need to play off the game (and adjust) to get the two points, and I think we did that really well today," Raanta said.
The Coyotes regained the lead at 2-1 on Crouse's goal at 15:29 of the second. Crouse's initial shot from the slot was blocked and deflected to Carl Soderberg, whose rebound attempt went off the right post and to Crouse for the follow-up.
"Carl was just driving hard, it hit the post and it was a gift there waiting for me on the back door," Crouse said. "The start of that shift we didn't really like, but we finished it off with a goal."
Fischer's empty-net goal made it 3-1 at 17:50. The Kings kept the extra attacker and got it to 3-2 when Nikolai Prokhorkin scored at 18:25.

"I thought we played well, especially in the last 40 minutes. We were aggressive on the forecheck, turned pucks over and threw them on net, but sometimes they don't go in," Kings forward Blake Lizotte said.
Fischer blocked a shot by Kings defenseman Sean Walker with 58 seconds remaining that coach Rick Tocchet said was a key to preserving the lead.
"That was big for us, who know what happens if that gets through?" Tocchet said.
Crouse sustained an upper-body injury in the first minute of the third period when he slid into the end boards and did not return.

They said it

"It's great to win but we're still a work in progress. Our second period wasn't good. We didn't get a shot for the first eight minutes. Teams are going to muck and grind against us, and we have to have that mentality." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet
"They're the No. (2) team in the League in goals-against for a reason. We had some good looks, but they didn't go in. We'll take a close look at what we're doing in and around the blue paint. Are we making it hard on the goaltender or are we making it easy, when you're not producing on that many shots?" -- Kings coach Todd McLellan

Need to know

The Coyotes are 5-1-1 in the Pacific Division. … Arizona is 8-3-2 on the road. … Kopitar has 21 goals and 74 points in 73 games against Arizona. … The Kings have lost nine of their last 13 against the Coyotes.

What's next

Coyotes: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, FS-A Plus, NHL.TV)
Kings: Host the San Jose Sharks on Monday (10:30 p.m. ET; SN, FS-W, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)