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Brown helps Kings nip Coyotes

Dec 27, 2011 - 6:30 AM Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Dustin Brown scored the game-winning goal in the third period, sending the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-3 win over the Phoenix Coyotes at Staples Center.

Rob Scuderi, Brad Richardson and Willie Mitchell also scored, while Anze Kopitar added a pair of assists for the Kings, who have won three of their last four games.

Jonathan Quick made 26 saves on 29 shots in the victory.

"Tonight we had a lot of shots," Brown said. "If we keep shooting the puck, they'll eventually go in and they did tonight."

Raffi Torres scored a pair and Daymond Langkow added the third goal for the Coyotes, who have lost back-to-back contests.

Jason LaBarbara was tagged for all four goals on 29 shots, while Curtis McElhinney stopped all six shots he faced in relief.

With the Kings leading 3-2, the difference-maker came at 7:06 of the third period when Brown accepted the puck on the right wing just inside the offensive blue line, cruised to the circle and fired a wrister that just squeezed through the pads of LaBarbara.

Langkow found the back of the net just 33 seconds later when he popped home a rebound off a shot from Mikkel Boedker.

With less than two minutes to play, the Coyotes elected to pull McElhinny in favor of an extra attacker. They were able to get some good pressure on the Los Angeles net, but Quick stood tall and preserved the win for his team.

"It was nice to get the win, Kings head coach Darryl Sutter said. "We had a good first period, we weren't very good in the second, but we got it back in the third."

Los Angeles opened the scoring at 4:09 of the first period when Scuderi, stationed at the right point, took a spectacular cross-ice pass from Drew Doughty and slapped it past LaBarbara to give his team the 1-0 lead.

Phoenix tied the game at one at 5:58 of the first stanza when Torres blocked a shot and raced the length of the ice before snapping it over the right shoulder of Quick with a defender on his back.

But, Los Angeles retook the lead at 13:48 of the first period when Slava Voynov ripped a slap shot on net from the right point that was tipped home by Richardson in front.

Phoenix found another tying goal seven minutes into the second period when Patrick O'Sullivan hit Torres with a home run pass from deep in the defense zone all the way to the offensive blue line and the big forward broke in on goal and slid it through the five-hole of Quick to make it 2-2.

"We have to clean it up defensively," Torres said. "The Kings can be very dangerous down the stretch."

Game Notes

The Kings improved to 9-0-0 when scoring three-plus goals in a game, and are 12-2-3 when scoring the first goal of the game...Phoenix failed to convert on both of its power play opportunities, while Los Angeles failed on all three of its power play chances...The Kings are 8-3-3 vs. Pacific Division teams this season.