Iafallo completes hat trick in OT for Kings in win against Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Alex Iafallo completed his first NHL hat trick 24 seconds into overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 3-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Thursday.

Iafallo, who has five goals in the past four games, scored the winner on a giveback pass from Anze Kopitar.
"It feels pretty good, especially getting it] in overtime like that," Iafallo said. "It's really fun. [Kopitar] made a nice play to me and I just had to shoot it in. It was a huge win and everybody played great."
***[WATCH: [All Kings vs. Coyotes highlights]*
Jack Campbell made 26 saves for the Kings (19-28-5), who were 0-4-1 in their previous five games. They played a second straight game without defenseman Drew Doughty (undisclosed injury), whose streak of 460 consecutive games played ended Wednesday.
Nick Schmaltz and Christian Dvorak scored, and Adin Hill made 34 saves for the Coyotes (26-21-6), who played the final period and a half without captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson (lower-body injury). Arizona has lost a season-high four straight games.
"The third period was exactly what we needed," Kings coach Todd McLellan said.
Arizona led 2-1 until Adrian Kempe took the puck away from Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson behind the net and fed Iafallo in front on a power play at 17:06 of the third period to tie the game 2-2.
"I'm just trying to create a little more offense for us and make more plays and be smarter out there," Iafallo said.
With Ekman-Larsson out, the Coyotes played the final 30 minutes with five defensemen.
"We would have liked to make it 3-1, obviously. Them getting that power-play goal gave them a boost," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. "If we get a [defensive zone] clear there, I think we're good. But we didn't."

Dvorak had put Arizona ahead 2-1 with a rebound off Taylor Hall's shot from the low slot at 19:04 of the second for the Coyotes, who are 1-5-2 in their past eight games after leading the Pacific Division on Jan. 15.
"I don't know if it's a low point; you go through ups and downs throughout the year, and obviously this isn't one of those times we want to have a low point," Schmaltz said. "But it's going to happen."
Schmaltz had tied it at 1-1 at 11:22 of the second with his first goal in 11 games, a wrist shot from the right circle on a giveback from Jason Demers.
Iafallo gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 8:37 of the first period on a one-timer from the top of the left circle off Ben Hutton's backhand pass.
"Alex's game speaks for itself," McLellan said. "He was all over the puck, he was sharp when he shot it. We're real excited for him."
The Kings failed to increase the lead when Austin Wagner missed high and wide on a penalty shot at 2:43 of the second after Ekman-Larsson took down Wagner on a rush to the net.

The Coyotes lost their second in as many nights, following a 4-2 loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday in their first game after the All-Star break.
"We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to build on the positives," Coyotes forward Derek Stepan said. "There's no sense of beating ourselves up, there's no time to dwell on anything. There's zero time right now."

They said it

"There's a lot of time left and you never know what can happen. St. Louis did it last year [by surging in the second half and winning the Stanley Cup] and we have the guys in here that can do it. That's our goal, to make it to the playoffs. We're trying to stay positive and keep working every day." -- Kings forward Alex Iafallo on trying to turn their season around
"We've got to keep the energy level up, we've got to stick together. That's the way it is. There's no other way. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us. There's going to be a lot of negativity around, but we've got to stick together." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet

Need to know

Iafallo is the fourth Kings player to complete a hat trick in overtime. Michal Handzus (March 5, 2009), Bryan Smolinski (Jan. 16, 2001) and Marcel Dionne (Dec. 26, 1983) also did it. … The Kings, who are 4-10-2 in their past 16 games, got a split of a back to back. They lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Wednesday. … Kings forward Dustin Brown has five points (two goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak. … Kopitar had two assists and has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past four games. … Tocchet did not have an injury update on Ekman-Larsson. … Hall has eight points (four goals, four assists) in the past six games.

What's next

Kings: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Coyotes: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)