• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Lisin scores twice in third as Coyotes top Kings

Dec 3, 2008 - 6:24 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Enver Lisin scored goals just over four minutes apart in the third period to lead the Phoenix Coyotes to a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

Captain Shane Doan scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season and Martin Hanzal added an empty-netter to seal Phoenix's third win in four games.

Mikael Tellqvist won his third straight start in place of Ilya Bryzgalov, making 31 saves as the Coyotes moved back to the .500 mark (11-11-2).

"We had a tough first two periods and didn't play as well as we wanted to," Tellqvist said. "We had a good little speech before the third period, and we knew that we had to score some goals because it was almost a four-point game. They are in our conference."

Alexander Frolov and Oscar Moller tallied for the Kings, who surrendered a third-period lead for the second straight night. On Monday, Los Angeles carried a 1-0 edge into the final session before allowing three goals in a 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"It was a pretty good game last night and tonight," Kings coach Terry Murray said. "It was right down to the final minute of the game, so there are a lot of good things to build on and lots of reasons to come back on the weekend."

Lisin doubled his goals total for the season in a critical 4:02 span of the third. Left alone in the slot, the 22-year-old redirected a pass from defenseman Keith Yandle past goaltender Erik Ersberg at 4:06 to knot the game at 2-2.

The Russian right wing scored again at 8:08 to put Phoenix ahead, 3-2. Lisin took a long pass from the Coyotes' zone by blue-liner Derek Morris and skated in on a breakaway, beating Ersberg to the stick side with a slap shot from the left faceoff circle for the go-ahead goal.

"It was a great play, pass by Derek and I just went to the net," Lisin said. "I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew I wanted to shoot it hard. I went hard to the net and saw that the D almost got me and took the shot."

"That was a goal-scorer's goal," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "He took the pass on the fly, Morris really made a nice pass, and the kid was flying. He put his head down, he saw a spot, hit the spot. It was an NHL goal."

Tellqvist, who has started three of the last four games and came on in relief of Bryzgalov in the other, was stellar again in net for the Coyotes.

"It is always easier when you play to get consistency," Tellqvist said. "The first time back, I sat for 11 games and it was tough. It is so hard to practice like game conditions, so it always helps when you play a few games like this and play well. That helps your confidence."

Bryzgalov started 16 of the first 18 games of the season for Phoenix but has struggled of late, opening the door for Tellqvist. The 29-year old Swede made 13 saves in the first period and nine in the second before stopping all 10 shots he faced in the third.

"(Tellqvist) has been playing solid, and he was as good as he has been all year tonight," Gretzky said. "The players love playing in front of him and he is having fun, which is fun to see."

After Frolov banked the puck off Tellqvist from behind the net 4:59 into the first period to give the Kings a 1-0 lead, Doan tied the game with a power-play goal. Defenseman Ed Jovanovski's blast from the point was deflected in by Doan with 13:19 remaining in the opening session.

Moller's goal with the man advantage less than two minutes later restored the lead for Los Angeles. The power-play tally was the first allowed by Phoenix in three games, snapping a streak of 15 consecutive successful kills.