Kings Go on Quite a Power Trip

The Kings and Phoenix will play eight times this season. If the first game was any indication, the next seven should be bruising.

Michael Cammalleri, Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist, and the Kings beat the Coyotes, 4-0, Thursday night in a testy game that featured a combined 77 penalty minutes.

“You get to know them very well,” Cammalleri said. “They get to know you very well. It turns into more of a grudge match than anything else. You’ve got to try to win those divisional matchups. That’s going to put you in the playoffs.”

The Kings scored all of their goals on the power play and Phoenix was assessed 57 penalty minutes. The Kings were four for 12 on the power play and killed off all five of its penalties.

Rob Blake had two assists for the Kings, who ended a four-game losing streak. Backup goaltender Mathieu Garon stopped 40 shots to earn his ninth career shutout.

“It seems like it’s always easier when you get a couple-goal lead,” Garon said. “Tonight, we played awesome. The defensemen in front of me, they blocked shots. I don’t think [Phoenix] got any rebounds.”

Phoenix lost for the fifth time in six games.

The Kings, who built a 3-0 first-period lead, didn’t look like the team that had played the night before and lost to the Minnesota Wild, 2-1, in overtime at Staples Center.

“The early power-play goals obviously were huge for us,” Kings Coach Marc Crawford said. “Not only that, the early penalty kills for us were good.... We got the power-play goals and it seemed to really spur on our confidence. That was a good victory for our team.”

Phoenix backup goalie Mike Morrison gave up three goals in 13 shots in a painful home debut. Coach Wayne Gretzky replaced Morrison with No. 1 goalie Curtis Joseph after one period.

“We definitely needed a change in momentum,” Gretzky said. “I thought that was the right thing to do to maybe give us a spark more than anything.”