Kings blow 4-goal lead, recover to defeat Coyotes in shootout

LOS ANGELES --The Los Angeles Kings blew a four-goal lead but recovered for a 6-5 shootout win against the Arizona Coyotes at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

The Kings scored five goals in the first period before the Coyotes responded with four straight, including three in the third period.
"It just goes to show that we got a lot of work to do. The championship quality or caliber teams don't do that," Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said.
Kevin Fiala had two goals and an assist, and Anze Kopitar, Blake Lizotte and Matt Roy each had a goal and an assist for the Kings (32-18-7). Jonathan Quick made 27 saves to get his first win in a game he started since Dec. 1, also against Arizona. Quick won his 369th NHL game to tie Tom Barrasso for the third-most wins by a Unites States-born goalie behind Ryan Miller (391) and John Vanbiesbrouck (374).
Gabriel Vilardi and Adrian Kempe scored in the shootout for Los Angeles. Quick saved Nick Schmaltz's shot with the bottom of his stick just above the paddle after Schmaltz cut across the crease for a backhand. Nick Bjugstad's attempt in the second round went wide.
"That was an incredible save," McLellan said. "He's a competitive guy and just when you think you have him beat, something pops out, whether it's a leg, a glove, a stick."

Clayton Keller scored twice for the Coyotes (19-28-9), who extended their point streak to eight games (4-0-4). Connor Ingram made 23 saves after Karel Vejmelka allowed five goals on 14 shots before being pulled 15:48 into the first.
"Bad first, learned from it. Good response for the next 40 (minutes), and I think we carry some momentum over to tomorrow [against the Columbus Blue Jackets]," Arizona forward Christian Fischer said.
The Kings built a 5-1 lead in the first period, outshooting the Coyotes 15-6.
Fiala's 20th goal of the season made it 1-0 at 8:00 on a power play before Josh Brown tied it 1-1 at 9:06.
Kopitar put Los Angeles up 2-1, beating Vejmelka five-hole with a backhand on a breakaway at 9:56, and Lizotte made it 3-1 at 11:56, backhanding in Alex Iafallo's rebound.
Roy pushed it to 4-1 at 14:48 when he one-timed a shot from the slot below the left face-off circle during a delayed penalty.
Fiala got his third multigoal game of the season at 15:48, cutting in front of two Coyotes and scoring from the paint to make it 5-1.

The Kings ended up getting their fourth straight win, but McLellan was disappointed once again by how they played after getting ahead. He pointed out similar issues in a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday when they led 5-0 in the third period.
"This lead tonight happened fast," McLellan said. "It happened, bang, bang, bang, one after another. And then from that point on we got extremely casual. I'm not sure how we replicate that in practice. It has to come from within the locker room, and it didn't."
Conversely, Arizona was pleased by its response after falling behind.
"I think that was a big wake-up call for our team," Fischer said. "If we're not on top of the puck, aggressive, playing the way we have to, we'll get embarrassed just like we did."

Keller cut it to 5-2 during a 5-on-3 power play at 15:40 of the second period, and he made it 5-3 37 seconds into the third.
Travis Boyd pulled the Coyotes within 5-4 at 7:06, two seconds after a power play expired, and Fischer put in the rebound of a Brown shot to tie it 5-5 at 7:50.
"That's who we are," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said of the comeback. "At the end of the day, that's a good thing because we take a lot of pride in being that competitive and working that hard. … The boys really dug in and found a way."
NOTES:Los Angeles has scored at least five goals in four straight games for the first time since Dec. 1-8, 1992. ... Fiala has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past two games. He is the first Kings player to get at least 60 points in his first 60 games with the team (21 goals, 40 assists in 57 games) since Zigmund Palfy (22 goals, 38 assists in 52 games in 1999-2000). … Kopitar has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in the past five games. … Kings defenseman Tobias Bjornfot had one shot in 14:22 in his first game since Jan. 27. He was recalled from Ontario of the American Hockey League on Friday. … Los Angeles has scored at least one power-play goal in six straight games (9-for-18). … The eight-game point streak is the longest for the Coyotes since a 12-game point streak (11-0-1) Feb. 4-28, 2012. … Keller has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in the past six games.