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BOX SCORE
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Phoenix Coyotes were livid after the game
-- and they were the team that won.
| | Jere Karalahti only temporarily got the best of Jeremy Roenick, who scored two goals for Phoenix. | Jeremy Roenick scored twice in a 1:49 span of the second period
and Shane Doan had a career-high three assists Sunday in a 6-5
victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
But it was the game's first goal that angered the Coyotes.
Just a minute in, the Kings received a gift goal when Glen
Murray's slap shot went through the right side of the net and was
allowed to stand.
Goalie Robert Esche appeared to have the right post covered, but
the puck entered the net from the side and made the mesh bulge.
"I was looking at the net, and the only place I could see an
opening was where they tied the netting to the post," Roenick
said. "There's a gap that's bigger than normal, but it was pretty
obvious that it went in the side of the net."
The same thing happened in last season's playoffs when
Philadelphia's John LeClair was given a goal against Pittsburgh.
Despite the presence of goal judge Ed Lee, video judge John
Wenkalman and referees Mike Leggo and Dan O'Halloran -- neither of
whom examined the net after the puck went in -- Murray was credited
with his second goal.
"Those are mistakes that we cannot have in this league,"
Roenick said. "The teams in the league are way too even, and we
can't have mistakes made like that upstairs when we have blatant
video replays. That's what replays are for."
Coyotes captain Keith Tkachuk was even more vocal.
"Somebody up there should get fined, because that can't
happen," Tkachuk said. "You never know. That could have cost us
the game. Fortunately, we still got the win, but I think the NHL
should do something and fine whoever's up there, because that isn't
right.
"I was trying to drag it on as long as I could so they could
keep watching it. Somebody up there needs a pair of glasses."
Keith Carney, Travis Green and Brad May also scored for the
Coyotes, who won for the fourth time in five games and beat the
Kings on the road for the seventh straight time.
Joe Juneau, obtained in a draft-day trade, scored on a
third-period power play for his first goal with Phoenix.
Ziggy Palffy extended his goal-scoring streak to five games with
the 200th and 201st goals of his career. Luc Robitaille connected
on a power play and Nelson Emerson also scored for the Kings, who
got three assists from captain Rob Blake.
Los Angeles goalie Jamie Storr, benched for the Kings' last game
for being late to a team meeting, surrendered four goals on 11
shots and was removed after Roenick's second goal gave the Coyotes
a 4-2 lead at 9:17 of the second period.
"It was a frustrating game. It won't be a good feeling leaving
the rink tonight," Storr said. "You feel like you could still
battle through the game, but when you look up at the shot board and
they've got four on you in 11 shots, then maybe a change is good.
We made it a good game at the end, but it should not have come down
to that."
After Juneau's power-play goal extended the lead to 6-3 with
6:26 to play, the Kings rallied to 6-5 on goals by Emerson and
Palffy, the latter with 3:16 left.
The Coyotes, who scored on their first shot in each of the first
two periods, tied it at 2 just 40 seconds into the middle period
when Doan beat Storr for his first goal of the season.
The Coyotes took a 3-2 lead when, on a power play, Roenick
flipped the puck over Storr from the left of the crease at 7:28 of
the second.
Carney tied it at 11:46 of the first with the Coyotes' first
shot on net -- and the only first-period goal allowed by Los Angeles
in six games this season.
"That was a huge goal for us, because we were playing awful,"
Tkachuk said. "It seems like we're always down against them in the
first period and always come back to win."
Game notes The Kings last beat the Coyotes at home on March 21, 1998.
... Palffy led the Kings with four goals against Phoenix in five
meetings last season. ... The Coyotes return to America West Arena
for Wednesday night's game against Florida, trying to start a
season 4-0 at home for the first time in franchise history. ...
Sunday was the 11th anniversary of the night Wayne Gretzky, the
Coyotes' incoming part-owner, became the NHL's career point-scoring
leader while playing for the Kings.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Phoenix Clubhouse
Los Angeles Clubhouse
RECAPS
Edmonton 5 Minnesota 3
Calgary 4 Detroit 2
Tampa Bay 5 Atlanta 2
Chicago 2 Columbus 1
Phoenix 6 Los Angeles 5
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