Anze Kopitar scores twice as Kings rally to beat Coyotes
Anze Kopitar scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the Kings rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
Trevor Moore, Carl Grundstrom and Kevin Fiala also tallied goals for the Kings, who had dropped five of six coming into the game, including a crazy 9-8 overtime defeat against Seattle on Tuesday.
Jonathan Quick stopped 18 shots.
Kopitar gave the Kings their first lead 5:22 into the third period on a 4-on-4 situation. Kopitar skated the puck into the zone, deked J.J. Moser and beat Karel Vejmelka far side for his fourth goal in the last four games.
Los Angeles had a pair of power-play goals, marking the first time since March 2017 it has scored multiple times with the man advantage in three straight games.
Cal Petersen’s waiver situation this week has sent a clear and direct message to the Kings that they need to fix their defense.
Matias Maccelli had a goal and an assist for Arizona while Christian Fischer and Nick Bjugstad also scored. Patrik Nemeth had two assists.
Vejmelka made 27 saves as Arizona dropped to 4-5-2 on its 14-game road trip.
The Coyotes had a 3-1 lead eight minutes into the second period on goals by Maccelli and Bjugstad before the Kings rallied. Moore scored on the power play at 9:09 and Grundstrom evened it with 1:31 to go in the period with a snap shot from the faceoff circle that went between Vejmelka’s legs.
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
