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Surging Kings visit Coyotes

Oct 29, 2013 - 3:04 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The surging Los Angeles Kings will aim for a fifth win in six outings when they visit the rival Phoenix Coyotes for Tuesday's Pacific Division battle at Jobing.com Arena.

The Kings have won two in a row and are coming off Sunday's 2-1 shootout win over visiting Edmonton. Anze Kopitar scored the game-winner in the shootout phase to help L.A. record its fourth win in five outings and seventh in nine tries.

Mike Richards got the shootout started after beating Edmonton goaltender Richard Bachman with a wrister over his left shoulder. Jordan Eberle answered by sneaking one between LA's Jonathan Quick's glove on the post before the next two shooters were turned away.

Kopitar then skated in slowly and blasted one over Bachman's pad and under his blocker for the game-winner. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' ensuing attempt was wide left to secure the second point for L.A.

Richards also had a regulation goal for the Kings, who improved to 4-0 in shootouts this season. Quick finished with 17 saves in the win, while Bachman made 47 saves for the Oilers.

"Their goalie had a hell of a game, with almost 50 shots for them, 50 is a lot of shots. I think we had a lot of traffic," Kings head coach Darryl Sutter said.

The Kings hope to improve to 2-0 against the Coyotes tonight after L.A. recorded a 7-4 win over a visiting Phoenix club on Thursday. Dwight King notched his first career hat trick to lead L.A. past the Coyotes and Quick made 24 saves for the win. Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith allowed four goals on 15 shots in the first period before being replaced by Thomas Greiss, who turned away 20 shots over the final 40 minutes.

L.A. has claimed three of four and four of the last six meetings with the Coyotes overall, but Phoenix has taken two in a row and four of the past five encounters in the desert.

The Coyotes have won three of their last four games and rebounded from Thursday's loss to the Kings with Saturday's 5-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Keith Yandle netted the tying goal and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the winner in the latter stages of the third period, giving Phoenix the close victory against the visiting Oilers.

Radim Vrbata chipped in three assists, while Martin Hanzal, Michael Stone and David Schlemko also lit the lamp for the Coyotes. Smith stopped 26 shots for the win, improving his record to 6-2-2 on the season.

"I like winning, but there's just some things in our game that need to improve if we're going to win long term," said Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett.

Saturday's contest marked the start of a three-game homestand for the Coyotes, who have yet to lose in regulation at Jobing.com Arena, going 4-0-1 as the host.