Bunting hat trick helps Coyotes defeat Kings

LOS ANGELES --
Michael Bunting
scored his first NHL hat trick for the Arizona Coyotes in a 5-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Monday.

Bunting scored his third of the game at 8:48 of the second period on a power play to give Arizona a 4-1 lead. The 25-year-old forward has scored five points (four goals, one assist) in nine NHL games.
"I felt good," Bunting said. "More and more games I get in, the more comfortable I can be with my game, and I felt it tonight. The puck was on my stick, and I was moving it well. … You've just kind of got to get open and bury it when you get those chances, and luckily I was able to."
Adin Hill made 36 saves for the Coyotes (19-15-5), who were 3-for-6 on the power play and won their third straight game. It was the second of back-to-back games following a 3-2 overtime victory at the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
Drew Doughty scored a power-play goal for the Kings (14-17-6), who have lost three in a row and six of their past seven games. Cal Petersen made 28 saves but allowed three goals in the first 7:28.

The teams will play again here Wednesday.
"Where the heck] was the desperation nine minutes into the game?" Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. " … Let's face it, we don't deserve to be in the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs if we don't have the intensity to play to get to the playoffs, it's as simple as that. I think there's enough guys that have been there and know that the journey to the playoffs is just as hard as the journey through the playoffs.
"We have a pipe dream of making the playoffs with the type of commitment and intensity that we brought to the rink tonight, and maybe a couple of other games over the last little bit."
The Kings are seventh in the eight-team Honda West Division, nine points behind the fourth-place Coyotes. The top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.
Bunting scored twice in 1:28 in the first period. He gave Arizona a 1-0 lead at 2:43 on a one-timer off a pass from Conor Garland, then made it 2-0 on the rebound of Jakob Chychrun's shot from the slot for a power-play goal at 4:11.
"He's underrated in the sense he's got a really sneaky shot and he's got some sneaky speed to him, but he's a guy that goes to the net," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said of Bunting. "All these goals, every time I [saw] 58 around the net, and he was not afraid to get in some people's faces."
Derick Brassard made it 3-0 at 7:28 on the power play with a one-timer from the right face-off circle.
Doughty cut it to 3-1 at 16:07 of the first with a long shot through traffic.
Andreas Athanasiou got the Kings within 4-2 at 2:10 of the third period.
"Can't just have one or two or three guys trying to make a difference in the game," Doughty said. "We need everyone making a difference and that's the only way you're going to win hockey games."
Christian Dvorak scored an empty-net goal at 19:26 for the 5-2 final.
Hill made 17 saves in the third period. He has won six of his past seven starts, including the victory Sunday. Goalies Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper each is out with a lower-body injury.
"[Hill] is a battler," Tocchet said. "He basically said, 'I want to go.' I gave him the ball, and he kept it for us. He did a nice job."
NOTES: Bunting is the fourth Coyotes player to score a hat trick in their past nine games; Chychrun had one Sunday, forward Phil Kessel scored three straight goals against the San Jose Sharks on March 27, and Brassard against the Ducks on March 20. It was the third time in Coyotes history they had hat tricks on consecutive days; forwards
[Vernon Fiddler
and
Ray Whitney
did it Nov. 12-13, 2010, and
Jeremy Roenick
scored three goals in back-to-back games Nov. 25-26, 1999. … Arizona defenseman Alex Goligoski had two assists and extended his point streak to five games. … The Kings had allowed one power-play goal in their previous 13 games, killing 30 of 31 penalties (96.8 percent) in that span. … Doughty's six power-play goals are tied with Aaron Ekblad of the Florida Panthers for most in the NHL by a defenseman.