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Los Angeles Kings Defeat The Arizona Coyotes 4-2 12/20/14

The Los Angeles Kings defeated the Arizona Coyotes live on your hometown station.

Score, Final:

Kings: 4

Coyotes: 2

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Based on how these teams are giving up goals and faring on the penalty kill, a shootout could be on tap when the Los Angeles Kings host the Arizona Coyotes.

Both clubs ended losing streaks their last time out and will be hoping some momentum carries over when they meet Saturday.

Los Angeles (16-11-6) surrendered 14 goals during an 0-2-1 stretch before rallying from three down Thursday for a 6-4 victory over St. Louis to open a four-game homestand. Anze Kopitarhad a goal and four assists for the first five-point effort of his career.

“Some teams would probably pack it in after the 3-0 (deficit), but not this team,” Kopitar said. “We have a lot of character. We have a lot of guys that care about each other and like playing for each other.”

Jeff Carter finished with four points and Marian Gaborik had three for the Kings, who matched a season high with three power-play goals. Gaborik has five goals and an assist over his last three games.

One problem for Los Angeles was that it yielded two more power-play goals, giving opponents seven in their last 12 chances. Jonathan Quick has yielded four goals in consecutive starts for the first time since March 6-9, 2012.

Arizona (11-16-4) can relate to those woes. The Coyotes, who own one of the league’s worst penalty kills at 76.0 percent, had surrendered at least one power-play goal in seven straight games before Edmonton went 0 for 2 in Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime win that ended a 0-4-1 winless slide for Dave Tippett’s club.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the winning goal and Devan Dubnyk made the most of his second straight start with 31 saves.

It’s unclear if Tippett will turn back to Dubnyk, who has started due to Mike Smith’s woes. The coach recently told a Phoenix radio station that Smith “hasn’t been able to get it done.”

Smith’s 14 regulation losses are the most in the Western Conference and his 3.35 goals-against average ranks as one of the NHL’s worst. He last played Dec. 11, with Tippett saying he wanted to give him a week off to work with goaltender coach Sean Burke.

“When you’re in a situation like we are, everybody’s gotta keep working at it and Smitty’s in that boat,” Tippett said.

Dubnyk made 24 saves in Arizona’s 3-2 overtime win over Los Angeles on Oct. 11 with Ekman-Larsson netting the winner. Dubnyk was forced to enter in place of an ineffective Smith the last time these teams met — a 4-0 win for the Kings on Dec. 4. Martin Jones got the shutout for Los Angeles.

The Coyotes could be without defenseman Michael Stone, who suffered an upper-body injury against the Oilers. Stone averages 2.68 blocked shots per game to rank among the NHL’s leaders.

Winger Lauri Korpikoski is day to day with a lower-body injury.

Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr left Thursday in the second period with an upper-body injury and was placed on injured reserve Friday.

The Coyotes top the West at 27.9 percent on the power play on the road. Defenseman Keith Yandle leads the NHL with an average ice time of 5:00 with the man advantage, registering 13 of his 20 points.

Los Angeles Kings Defeat The Arizona Coyotes 4-2 12/20/14

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