Carl Grundstrom’s goal caps Kings’ rally for 4-3 win over Coyotes

Carl Grundstrom tipped home the tiebreaking goal with 6:05 to play and the L.A. Kings overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period to beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Adrian Kempe and Jeff Carter scored early in the third period to even it for the Kings, who snapped their three-game skid with the comeback. Grundstrom and Trevor Moore both redirected Drew Doughty’s hard shot through traffic, with Grundstrom getting credit for his fifth goal of the season.

After the Kings held on for just their second win in eight games, coach Todd McLellan praised his team for “stay(ing) with it, especially with the mood around the team lately. It hasn’t been the best, because we haven’t won as much as we’d like to.

“We’ve tried to keep guys up,” he added. “Falling behind wasn’t something we wanted to do, but certainly coming back makes at least this night feel better, and should give us some confidence moving forward.”

Jonathan Quick made 24 saves and Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored an early goal for the Kings. Doughty, Moore and Kale Clague had two assists apiece.

“We weren’t ready to back down,“ Clague said. “I’m really happy for everyone to get back own the winning track, and I know we all just want to carry that over into the weekend.”

Ilya Lyubushkin scored his first NHL goal and Lawson Crouse had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes, who lost for only the second time in eight games after playing well in the first two periods at Staples Center, where they won 5-2 on Monday.

“We took our foot off the gas,” Crouse said. “I think we thought it was going to be easy, and in this league, you can’t do that. We started getting beat up the ice. We weren’t tying up sticks. It’s sour. These are the games that keep you up at night.”

Johan Larsson also scored, and Adin Hill stopped 26 shots in his eighth consecutive start for Arizona.

“We needed some of our really good players to really lock it down,” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. “I know we’re disappointed. We gave it away, and we’ve got to learn from it. Nothing really changed in the third. We just had some individuals that made some mistakes.”

After Crouse opened the scoring with his first goal on the road this season, Lyubushkin finally got his first goal in his 118th NHL game. The 27-year-old Russian defenseman who joined the Coyotes in 2018 hammered home a long rebound off Crouse’s shot.

Anderson-Dolan trimmed the lead when his partially blocked shot fluttered past a screened Hill late in the first, but Larsson redirected Jakob Chychrun’s shot in front early in the second to extend Arizona’s lead.

Kempe converted a slick give-and-go with Clague moments after a Kings penalty expired early in the third period. Carter then ended his seven-game goal drought, redirecting Doughty’s shot and tying it with 15:43 to play.