Glendale, AZ (Sports Network) - Jarret Stoll scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period as the Los Angeles Kings held on for 4-3 triumph over the Phoenix Coyotes to split their home-and-home set. Drew Doughty, Justin Williams and Alec Martinez each lit the lamp for the Kings, who snapped a three-game slide and avenged their 2-0 loss to Phoenix on Thursday. Jonathan Quick stopped 23-of-26 shots for the victors.
Lee Stempniak tallied two goals for the Coyotes, who have lost three of their last four contests. Ilya Bryzgalov gave up four goals on 33 shots in the loss and Martin Hanzal notched a goal. With 1:43 left in the middle stanza, Stempniak squared the game away at three to cap off Phoenix's three-goal rally. He took a short pass from Taylor Pyatt and ripped a wrister from inside the left circle that went low past Quick.
The Kings came out hard in the final frame and it paid off less than five minutes in. Jack Johnson blasted a shot from the right point. The shot was deflected by a crowd in front, but a diving Stoll chipped in a backhand to put LA up 4-3. The Coyotes couldn't knot the game up the despite pulling Bryzgalov for a 6- on-5 advantage with 96 seconds left. Quick ended up with 10 saves in the final frame to preserve the win.
Los Angeles didn't take long to score after being held scoreless by Phoenix just two days prior. Just 1:22 in, Ryan Smyth's pass set up a Williams' breakaway goal for a 1-0 lead. The lead grew to two, 2-0, six minutes later after Drew Doughty used a crafty move to get open long enough to blast a slap shot from the top of the right circle past Bryzgalov.
Still in the opening period, the two teams traded goals in a 52-second span. LA took a brief 3-0 edge off of Martinez's slap shot at the 13:33 mark, and Phoenix got on the board on Stempniak's shot off of Pyatt's blocked wrist shot. It became a one-goal game just three minutes into the second period off of Hanzal's power-play goal. Keith Yandle set up the score with a pass to Hanzal, who finished with a backhander from in tight.
Los Angeles avoided a sixth straight loss to division-rival Phoenix...The Coyotes were 1-for-2 on the power play, while LA blanked on three man- advantages...Smyth ended with two assists...Pyatt also has two assists.
For more information on tonight's game, be sure to read Jewels From The Crown.