In Glendale, Jonathan Quick made 20 saves to help the Los Angeles Kings defeat the Arizona Coyotes, 3-2, on penalties Thursday night.
“We were happy with the first, probably a little too happy, because we didn’t respond in the second,” Los Angeles head coach Todd McLellan said. “We talked about all the work we did in the first period just gets us back to even. I think that’s where the guys settled in and started to do things right again.”
The Kings are 3-0-1 in their last four.
Conor Garland and Phil Kessel scored in regulation for the Coyotes.
“We weren’t ready to go tonight,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “After that, I like the resiliency of getting two quick goals, but it was another game where there wasn’t much [offense]. I didn’t see a lot of Grade A’s from both teams.”
Arizona dropped to 7-6-3 with the loss.
“We finally found our work ethic,” Arizona’s Christian Dvorak said. “First period, we didn’t have enough of that. We just need to have a better start. That’s the reason we didn’t get two points.”
The skills competition went four rounds before Gabriel Vilardi potted the deciding goal.
“I didn’t feel any pressure at all,” Vilardi said. “I had a chance to finish it for the team, and I was lucky enough to do it. I thought we had another nice game, and ‘Quickie’ made some really nasty saves again.”
Dustin Brown and Jeff Carter were the Kings strikers in the first period.
“They’re (Coyotes) one of the most tenacious teams in the League when it comes to their ability to sustain offensive-zone time, and we did a pretty good job against them most of the game except when we got sloppy,” McLellan said. “But for the most part, I think it was the type of game our team needs to play to win.”
Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves in the loss.
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