Kings done in by another slow start against Coyotes

Though their opponents were the ones who played an overtime game the previous night, the Kings appeared to miss the start time Monday, falling behind by three goals early and losing to the Arizona Coyotes, 5-2, at Staples Center.

Arizona beat the Ducks, 3-2, in overtime on Sunday in Anaheim, while the Kings were idle, but it was the Coyotes who broke strong out of the gate.

The Kings’ first period included four penalties, three goals against (two on the power play) and one timeout called as they played the Washington Generals to the typically workmanlike Coyotes’ Harlem Globetrotters early.

“Disappointment. Lack of preparedness and intensity early in the game when you need it,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “You’re out of the game and then you decide to play? That’s (expletive) backwards.”

In 37 games, the Kings have scored first just 13 times, winning 11 of those games. Of the 24 when they have allowed the opening goal they have won only three. They have allowed a goal in the first five minutes of each of their last three games, losing all three.

The Kings now trail Arizona by nine points for the West division’s final playoff spot. Though the St. Louis Blues are in a tailspin, having lost seven in a row, including six regulation losses, the San Jose Sharks have won four in a row to hurdle the Blues and Kings.

“It should have been a call to action (several) games ago. We put ourselves in a good spot and the last two weeks or so we’ve absolutely shot ourselves in the foot,” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “Now we’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of climbing to do and a lot of winning to do.”

Doughty and winger Andreas Athanasiou scored for the Kings. Cal Petersen bore the brunt of their rough start, ultimately making 28 saves.

Winger Michael Bunting turned in a hat trick; his three goals were one more than he had scored in his career to date. Center Derick Brassard and forward Christian Dvorak added a goal apiece for Arizona. Defenseman Alex Goligoski, winger Connor Garland and defenseman Jakob Chychrun contributed two assists each. Adin Hill earned his sixth victory in his last seven appearances while making 36 stops.

Bunting opened the scoring 2:43 into the game when he loaded up a wrist shot for a one-timer from the high slot that hit the twine high to the blocker side. Garland had generated speed up the left wing boards and sent a backhand pass into the slot where it eluded Nick Schmaltz and continued to Bunting. He was wide open trailing a play that left four Kings defenders below the hash marks.

“Once you get a quick goal, your game elevates that much and your confidence comes. After that first one, I calmed down a bit and let my game take over,” Bunting said.

Less than two minutes later, Bunting struck again, this time on the power play. Chychrun, whose hat trick accounted for all three Coyotes goals in their victory over the Ducks on Monday, moved the puck to Goligoski for a shot from the left point. His rebound was put back by Bunting, whose stick was free despite the presence of Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson.

Arizona added an insurance goal when Brassard found quiet ice in the right faceoff dot during a power play. Garland handled the puck on the left side as Dvorak drove the middle. Brassard was all alone for a cross-ice pass that he one-timed past Petersen after dropping to one knee.

The Kings had killed 30 of their previous 31 penalties but allowed goals on back-to-back power plays Monday. Their second power-play goal allowed prompted a timeout from McLellan.

“By the time we were done playing seven minutes, we were down by three and we’d taken two penalties,” McLellan said. “That gives you a pretty good indication that the intensity for (Arizona) was a lot higher than for the (Kings).”

With 3:53 left in the first period, the Kings not only got a goal back but also snapped their scoreless streak with the man advantage. Forward Adrian Kempe drew a defender to him as he glided toward the net, and then turned the puck back for Doughty. Doughty dragged the puck on his forehand to create a better shooting angle and rifled a shot through a Dustin Brown screen to make it 3-1.

The Kings were being out-shot 10-4 early but put the last seven shots of the frame on goal to out-shoot Arizona 11-10.

However the Kings did not carry much momentum into the second period, when they were out-shot by five and found themselves down three anew, despite a hit post by forward Trevor Moore.

Nearly nine minutes into the middle frame, Bunting completed his hat trick following some nifty puck movement that found Chychrun just above the left faceoff circle. He leaned into a wrist shot that glanced off both Bunting and Petersen. As the puck fell to the ice, Bunting beat defenseman Kurtis MacDermid to the juicy rebound.

With a little more than a minute to go, the Kings connected on a stretch pass by Petersen that sent Austin Wagner and Blake Lizotte off on a two-on-none rush. Wagner’s snap shot to the far side was blockered down and away from trouble by Hill.

Just over two minutes into the third period, the Kings closed to within two goals. Lizotte snatched the puck off the forecheck and turned it back to defenseman Kale Clague, whose cross-crease pass was redirected in off Athanasiou’s backhand. It was Athanasiou’s second goal in his past 12 games.

Forward Jeff Carter nearly cut the lead to one as the Kings stormed the net, but Hill stacked his pads and battled to freeze the puck. Carter was later stoned on a point-blank chance by a deft block by defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin.

Center Gabe Vilardi was benched for a significant portion of the third period, and he might be the odd man out when Brendan Lemieux makes his Kings debut Wednesday, McLellan implied.

The Kings pressed forward late but ended up giving an empty-net goal to Dvorak in the final minute.

Having lost nine of their past 12 games, the Kings elicited a stern evaluation from McLellan.

“We have a pipedream of making the playoffs with the type of commitment and intensity that we brought to the rink tonight and maybe a couple of the other games over the last little bit,” McLellan said. “That should answer the playoff question.”

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