Kings on Defensive in Defeat

The Kings had a chance to make a statement Saturday night against the Phoenix Coyotes, but they were the ones who received the message.

In their second game in as many nights, the Coyotes gave the Kings a taste of consistent defensive hockey as they widened their lead over their Western Conference rival with a 4-2 victory before an announced sellout of 16,005 at the Forum.

Keith Tkachuk, Mike Stapleton, Mike Gartner and Jeremy Roenick scored for Phoenix, which improved to 16-16-7 and extended its lead over the Kings to three points in the conference standings.

The Kings (15-16-6) lost their second game in a row and remain sixth in the conference.

Goaltender Jamie Storr played well in his second start of the season with 31 saves, but goals by Vladimir Tsyplakov and Dan Bylsma were not enough.

Phoenix, which has struggled defensively at times this season, was coming off a 4-0 victory at San Jose on Friday, but the Coyotes didn’t play like a team completing back-to-back road games.

Coyote goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who recorded his 12th career shutout Friday, did not see much action in the first period as Phoenix dominated play in keeping the puck primarily in the Kings’ zone the first 20 minutes.

Storr was peppered with shots from all angles as the Coyotes outshot the Kings, 20-5, in the period. Phoenix’s lone goal in the period came at 8:31 when King defenseman Rob Blake’s short-handed blast from inside the blue line hit the right post and led to a Coyote breakaway.

Tkachuk put Phoenix ahead, 1-0, when he faked Storr with a pass from the slot and then scored from deep in the left circle for his 23rd goal of the season at 8:31.

The Coyotes continued to control play in the period and only several timely saves by Storr kept the Kings within one goal going into the first intermission. At one point late in the period, Phoenix held a 20-1 advantage in shots.

“We talked about how we had two days off and that wanted to keep it simple,” Bylsma said. “We tried to make plays in the neutral zone, but we didn’t make the plays. This is a tough loss because we really needed to get a win.”

The Kings’ luck ran out early in the second period when a turnover by Blake in their zone led to a short-handed goal by Stapleton. Storr actually made the save on Stapleton’s shot, but as the puck floated in the air near the goal, it bounced off King defenseman Garry Galley into the net to give the Coyotes a 2-0 lead 53 seconds into the period.

In danger of getting blown out at home, the Kings finally gave their fans something to cheer about late in the period when Tsyplakov scored at 15:22 to cut the lead to 2-1.

With centers Jozef Stumpel and Yanic Perreault exchanging lines, the Kings created a breakaway when Glen Murray passed to Stumpel, who then assisted to Tsyplakov alone in the slot for his 10th goal of the season and his seventh in the last seven home games.

The Kings’ power play, which finished 0 for 6, came close to tying the score early in the third period but the Coyotes were able to kill off a penalty for too many men on the ice.

That led to a key score for Phoenix when Gartner created a turnover in the neutral zone and then completed a give-and-go play with Craig Janney to put the Coyotes ahead, 3-1, at 12:31.

Bylsma, who played one of his best games of the season, gave the Kings new life when he scored his first goal on a rebound at 13:13, but Phoenix put the game away in the final minute when Roenick fought off a back-checking Stumpel and scored while sliding across the ice on his side with 36.9 seconds remaining.

Overall, the Kings were outshot, 35-23.

Saturday’s game was sixth of 11 in a row the Kings are playing against Western Conference opponents. They dropped to 8-9-1 against the West.