Heading into tonight's game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Arizona Coyotes both sides were on winning streaks. The Kings came in having won their last two, while the Coyotes were victorious in the previous three games.
However, tonight, the Kings' winning streak continued as they defeated the Coyotes by a score of 3-2.
First period was even
The hometown Coyotes broke through for the first goal at 8:48 when Jordan Martinook scored his seventh goal with helpers from Connor Murphy and Lawson Crouse. Martinook curled around into the slot area and slid a rebound shot through the five hole on Peter Budaj.
The Kings, though, came back to tie the score at 10:51 in a scramble in front of Mike Smith's net. Anza Kopitar managed to get it by Smith to knot the score at one.
The Coyotes had a power play chance at 18:37 when Andy Andreoff was called for tripping. There was no additional scoring in this initial period, and the Yotes still had :37 remaining in their power play.
Second period action
The Coyotes survived an early penalty at 1:24 with the Kings putting extensive pressure on Mike Smith, who kept the game tied with his acrobatic saves.
The always entertaining Jordan Nolan tried to mix it up with Alex Goligoski and Luke Schenn just to show how tough his is.
He showed he can do more than be tough when he tied the score 2-2 after the Coyotes had taken the lead at 18:30 on a goal by Ryan White, with Crouse getting his second assist of the night.
The Coyotes' fourth line has been productive of late, and Crouse has really picked up his play.
By allowing the Kings to get back in the game so quickly it was disappointing, but the last period still was still to come.
Decisive last period
The first half of the period was tightly played by both teams. Mike Smith's play again kept Arizona in the game. Dustin Brown fired a wrist shot which Smith snared in his glove to keep it out of the net.
At 11:55 Martinook again got penalized for slashing Dustin Brown's stick. Killing off this penalty was vital to keep LA from forging ahead. The penalty was killed off, but the Kings did hit their second post of the night.
Smith cleared two pucks down the ice himself, showing his puck handling skills.
Martin Hanzal got called for tripping with 3:39 left in the last period. This time, the extra man resulted in a power play goal giving the Kings the lead 3-2. Jake Muzzin was alone in the crease and tapped it in at 18:11 from a beautiful pass from Jeff Carter.
The Coyotes pulled Smith, and had some flurries of scoring chances, but fell for their first loss in four games.
What's next
The Chicago Blackhawks will be in town Thursday night, and if the Coyotes continue their improved play they can give the Hawks a good game.
They certainly played well enough to win this game tonight, but came up short with the questionable late call on Hanzal.
They now need to concentrate on playing one of the best teams in the NHL, and put this heartbreaking loss out of their minds.