{coyotes} Nolan scores twice, Kings beat Coyotes 4-3

 

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GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Asked if he knew when he scored his last goal, Jordan Nolan put his head down in the locker room. He laughed a little.

''I couldn't tell you,'' Nolan said. ''I don't even want to look back on it. Just kind of forget about it and just move on.''

Nolan scored his first two goals of the season - and his first since April 2015 - to help the Los Angeles Kings edge the Arizona Coyotes 4-3 on Wednesday night.

''Just some puck luck, I guess,'' Nolan said. ''I feel like I got some good chances here and just fortunate to go in.''

Trevor Lewis scored the winner off a turnover with 4:05 left. The Kings withstood a late power play and an extra attacker to hold on for their sixth win in seven games.

Anze Kopitar had two assists and backup goalie Jeff Zatkoff, pressed into action to start the second period, faced 26 shots and made 25 saves.

Martin Hanzal scored twice for the Coyotes in the first period, with Michael Stone assisting on both. Mike Smith stopped 29 shots, but gave up two goals in the final 7 minutes.

''I thought he was unlucky,'' Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said of Smith. ''Made some great saves but was unlucky. I'm sure he's very frustrated, just like the rest of us.''

The Coyotes pulled Smith for an extra attacker for the last 1:34, but couldn't draw even.

The teams scored 9 seconds apart in the third period. Nolan's second goal of the night came from a shot from behind the net that bounced off the back of Smith's legs to give the Kings a 3-2 lead at 13:41 of the period.

''I see some of the top players kind of throw it at the net when they're in the corner there,'' Nolan said. ''It goes in for them, so I thought why not give it a try?''

Arizona's Tobias Rieder, who'd been a hard mark for Kings defenseman Drew Doughty for much of the game, took in a long pass from Alex Goligoski and got off a shot ahead of Doughty that beat Zatkoff at 13:50.

That set the stage for Lewis' winner.

''We did a good job kind of weathering their push in the second and tied it,'' Zatkoff said. ''It was a gritty win. We probably didn't play our best but it's two points. Got contributions up and down the lineup.''

The Coyotes converted 2 of 6 power plays, the first successful power plays in the past five games. Nine of their last 10 games have been decided by one goal.

The Kings went 0 for 6 on power plays.

Forward Tyler Toffoli picked up two tripping penalties in the first 39 seconds of the game, the first which led to the Coyotes scoring their opening goal.

Toffoli was sent to the penalty box nine seconds into the game, and six seconds later, Hanzal deflected Radim Vrbata's shot into the net for a 1-0 Arizona lead.

Toffoli was whistled for tripping again at 39 seconds, but the Kings' penalty kill unit prevented a second goal for those two minutes.

Los Angeles tied it at 12:25 of the first when Dustin Brown skated up ice, flipped a centering pass to Kopitar and got the puck back from Kopitar. Brown's shot attempt was wide but it went to teammate Dwight King, who put the puck past Smith.

It was King's fifth goal of the season.

The Coyotes went ahead 2-1 on Hanzal's wrist shot that went off starting goalie Peter Budaj's stick and into the net at 18:32 of the period, again on the power play. Hanzal, with five goals, also has three two-point games this season.

Before that goal, the Coyotes, with Smith making several stops, thwarted a 5-on-3 opportunity the Kings had for 53 seconds in the first period.

Zatkoff got his first win as a King. He took over for Peter Budaj, who had four saves on six shots faced.

''Trying to win a game, right?'' Kings coach Darryl Sutter said of his move to go with Zatkoff. ''

The Kings drew even again with Nolan's goal at 10:14 of the second. Nolan's backhand shot eluded Smith for his first goal of the season and first since April of 2015.

NOTES: Arizona's Oliver Ekman-Larsson played after leaving Tuesday's game at San Jose with an upper body injury, and logged an assist. ... Arizona's Shane Doan passed Wayne Gretzky for 19th place on the NHL's career list.

UP NEXT

Kings: Open a three-game road at Montreal on Sunday.

Coyotes: Host Columbus on Saturday, the first of back-to-back games against the Blue Jackets.

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