This King Defeat Is Coyote Ugly

King Coach Andy Murray’s long-range goal before Tuesday night’s game against the Phoenix Coyotes was to win the 10 remaining home games in the regular season.

That hope has been downgraded to nine of the last 10.

Stunned by an opening 10 minutes that could not have gone much worse, the Kings fell, 6-2, in Staples Center to a Phoenix team whose most optimistic goal may be as a spoiler for playoff hopefuls.

The Coyotes, who ended a 13-game road winless streak against the Kings, got off to a good start Tuesday.

After the Kings took an early 1-0 lead, Phoenix responded by scoring on three of its first five shots on Mathieu Garon -- a shooting percentage (.600) that would make any NBA team envious. Each of those scores came after defensive lapses that left Garon at the mercy of a breakaway (in one case a two-on-none break) or a lonely Coyote at point-blank range.

After that, it was academic, as the Kings remained in sixth place in the Western Conference playoff race but failed to separate themselves from two teams now one point behind them and a third -- the Mighty Ducks -- within three points.

The Kings had won six of their last eight games, including a 2-2 trip before returning home Tuesday.

“Sometimes, teams come back from a fairly long road trip and [look at] the first game back as a tough game. We don’t have time for that,” Murray said.

But Phoenix made sure the Kings’ return home was as tough as it could be.

The Kings’ first goal was helped by a behind-the-net misplay of the puck by goaltender Curtis Joseph, who became preoccupied by forechecking forward Jeff Giuliano. Jeff Cowan picked up the loose puck and swept it out into the crease, where it bounced off Phoenix’s Geoff Sanderson and into the net for a 1-0 King lead.

But in a span of less than two minutes, Phoenix scored three goals from which the Kings could never recover. Shane Doan tied the score with a point-blank shot. Then, Oleg Saprykin scored on a two-on-none break, followed by Boyd Devereaux’s goal on another breakaway.

Phoenix added to the Kings’ misery in the second period with a power-play tip-in score by Mike Ricci to make it 4-1. The Kings went scoreless in the period, despite outshooting the Coyotes, 15-6, as Joseph made several key stops and had the help of a goalpost on two others.

Things were no better in the third period, as tempers flared and players squared off -- notably the Kings’ Sean Avery and the Coyotes’ Keith Ballard. Avery and Cowan each got a 10-minute misconduct.

Luc Robitaille scored the Kings’ last goal.

“We were not tired -- that’s an excuse,” Robitaille said. “We made some bad mental errors. We need to stick with our system, no matter what.”

Murray said he sees the team’s mandate as a simple one.

“The most important thing we have to work on now is that we have to win every home game,” Murray said before the game.

Center Eric Belanger sat out because of an elbow hyperextension suffered in the Kings’ 4-3 loss at San Jose on Monday; also sitting out was Craig Conroy, who took 12 stitches above the left eye in San Jose.