In what seemed to be a promising night for the Coyotes, ultimately turned into a nightmare loosing 5-4 to the Kings.
In a game that had so much promise early for the Arizona Coyotes, ultimately turned into a nightmare as they lost 5-4 to the Los Angeles Kings.
This game couldn’t have started any better for the Coyotes. Matias Maccelli opened the scoring in the first minute of the game and the Yotes were not done there.
The Coyotes scored three goals from J.J. Moser, Jack McBain and Sean Durzi in less than two minutes even forcing Los Angeles to make a goaltending switch replacing Pheonix Copley with Cam Talbot.
After the first period, the Coyotes led 4-1 and it seemed that this game would be dominated by the home team.
Unfortunately for Arizona, this would not be the case and a night that started off so well would soon turn into a nightmare.
The Kings came into the second period with new life dominating puck possession. While Los Angeles only scored one goal in the second period from Drew Doughty on the power play, the tides were beginning to shift.
It was in the third period where everything unraveled for the Coyotes. The Kings scored two quick goals from Quinton Byfield and Anže Kopitar to tie the game and at that point if Arizona had any sort of life, it was all gone after that.
Los Angeles dominated the rest of the third period and Drew Doughty scored the game winning goal with just over two minutes left to cap off a tremendous comeback.
The Coyotes were playing their best hockey of the season to start this game but after the team took a 4-1 lead, they somehow lost their offensive spark.
Arizona failed to really gain any sort of puck possession leaving a lot of pressure on the back of goaltender Karel Vejmelka.
By the end of the night, the Kings took a total of 41 shots compared to the Coyotes 24 shots showing the discrepancy between the two teams.
This should serve as a learning lesson for a young Coyotes team. The Kings have proven to be a dominant force in the Western Conference and it will take rough losses like these against elite teams for Arizona to grow.
So while this night will still certainly be a tough pill to swallow, it’s all about how the Coyotes will respond.
They can either falter even further and lose confidence or build from this and take a step in the right direction.