Glendale, AZ (Sports Network) – Lee Stempniak netted his first career hat trick, boosting Phoenix to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Andrew Ebbett scored shorthanded for the Coyotes, who snapped a three-game skid. Ilya Bryzgalov made 28 saves for Phoenix, which won despite playing without captain Shane Doan. He started serving a three-game suspension Thursday for his hit on Anaheim forward Dan Sexton in the Coyotes’ 3-2 loss to the Ducks on Sunday.
“It was a big game for us in terms of establishing our identity,” Stempniak said. “We’ve had a bit of a tough schedule, a bit erratic. It was good for us to come here playing a strong team game.”
Ed Jovanovski added three assists in the win.
Wayne Simmonds had the two goals for the Kings, who had a three-game winning streak broken. Jonathan Quick made 23 saves.
The Coyotes scored 4 1/2 minutes into the game as Stempniak was in front to deflect Jovanovski’s left point shot past Quick.
It became 2-0 just 2:54 later as Stempniak deposited a loose puck from in front by the LA goaltender.
“We had some opportunities to recover pucks, but we just didn’t come up with them,” Kings coach Terry Murray said. “It’s about hard work, it’s about intensity, recovering pucks.”
Ebbett scored shorthanded 5:49 into the second before Simmonds broke the shutout less than three minutes later on a backhand try. A rebound of a Brad Richardson shot went off the skate of Simmonds and past Bryzgalov with 2:41 remaining.
Stempniak completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal with 34.6 seconds left.
Los Angeles has lost 10 of its last 14 at Phoenix…Bryzgalov is 12-4-2 in his career against Los Angeles…The teams combined to go 0-for-5 on the power play.