Recap: Coyotes Lose to Kings in First Game Back from Break

LOS ANGELES --The Coyotes were in good shape against the Los Angeles Kings after two periods at the Staples Center on Thursday night, but they allowed a goal just seconds into the third and couldn't recover.
Dustin Brown beat Darcy Kuemper with a wrist shot at 0:17 of the final stanza, and the Kings won 2-1.

"We had a really good second period," Coyotes Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "I think they had one chance. And then, right off the bat they scored (in the third). It's one of those games where it comes down to the last couple plays. They made the play and we didn't."
The Coyotes were looking to extend their winning streak to three games after back-to-back victories over Colorado and San Jose just before the NHL-mandated three-break around Christmas. Instead, they let a 1-0 lead slip away and allowed last-place Los Angeles to climb to within a point of them in the Western Conference standings.
Jakob Chychrun provided Arizona's 1-0 cushion when he notched a power-play goal at 15:27 of the first period. Alex Galchenyuk set up the tally with a slick pass through traffic to Chychrun at the top of the right circle to extend his point streak to three games.

The Kings received a late holiday present 3:12 later when a point shot by Jake Muzzin hit Josh Archibald's stick in front of Arizona's net and then pinballed off Niklas Hjalmarsson's helmet and past Kuemper for a score-tying goal.
"There's nothing you can do about it," Chychrun said of the fluke goal. "You've just got to move on from it. Those bounces are going to happen. It's the way you respond."
The Coyotes did respond and dominated the middle stanza. They outshot LA, 11-5, but Kings goalie Jonathan Quick did not let the puck get by him. He made his best save on a one-timer by Derek Stepan from in close with just under five minutes left before the break.
Brown scored his 22nd career goal vs. the Coyotes on his first shift of the third period. After taking the puck near the red line, Brown skated it up the right side, around Richard Panik and past Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and then wedged it off Kuemper's left shoulder and under the crossbar.
"I just tried to challenge him, and he had good speed," Kuemper said. "He just beat me ... We played really hard. The guys were battling out there. It was 1-1 going into the third. We just came up a little bit short."

Chychrun agreed.
"We were all over them in that second period," Chychrun said. "We felt like our legs were there and we thought maybe they were feeling a little tired, so we wanted to go out for a big third. Obviously that's not the way you want to start a period. We were kind of behind the eight ball in the third. We got some chances, we just couldn't bury them."

• Tied 1-1, Nick Cousins scored a goal with 7:55 left in second period but it was immediately waved off because Cousins made contact with Quick a few moments prior to the goal. However, Cousins was not called for goaltender interference.
• Because of the holiday break, the Coyotes were not permitted to travel to Thursday's game until Thursday morning.
"We worked hard," Tocchet said. "Three-day break or whatever, we worked hard. We didn't win the game, so we get back to the drawing board at practice and, you know, keep grinding away. (We'll) shoot some pucks, hopefully get some healthy bodies. But like I said, the effort was there."

• Ekman-Larsson skated in his 613th game to pass Zbynek Michalek and gain sole possession of second place for most games played by a defenseman in Coyotes/Jets history. Teppo Numminen tops that list with 1,098 games.
• The Coyotes played without center Brad Richardson, who leads the team with 10 goals. Richardson did not travel with the team to Los Angeles because he has the flu, according to Tocchet. His status for Saturday's game at Anaheim is unclear.
• Stats that jump off the Event Summary: Stepan won 19 of 30 face-offs, Mario Kempe delivered six hits in 10:10 of ice time, and Conor Garland notched his first NHL assist.