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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jyrki Lumme set up the game-winning goal for the Phoenix Coyotes, after nearly handing the game to the Los
Angeles Kings.
|  | | Goalie Bob Essensa kept the Coyotes in the game with 35 saves. |
After Phoenix goalie Bob Essensa saved Lumme on numerous defensive blunders, teammate Jeremy Roenick recorded his league-leading eighth game-winning goal at 3:18 of overtime for a
3-2 victory Sunday night.
Lumme got a pass from behind the net by Greg Adams and took a short wrist shot that popped high in the air after striking goalie
Stephane Fiset.
Roenick and Kings forward Bryan Smolinski both waved at the
fluttering puck with their sticks and Smolinski's stick made
contact with the puck above the crossbar before Roenick tapped it
in for his 18th goal.
"I don't know who hit it, but I know it was one of their
guys," Lumme said. "I saw two sticks."
Lumme committed two of his four giveaways in the final minute of
regulation and in the third minute of overtime. Ian Laperriere of
the Kings nearly scored his second goal of the game with 20.7
seconds left, but Essensa stopped his short wrist shot.
"It turned out all right at the end," Lumme said. "I got
lucky, but you can't play that way over the long haul."
The Kings fell into the Pacific Division basement but only trail
first-place Phoenix by six points.
"It's very disheartening," Kings coach Andy Murray said. "We
felt our team has played very hard in the last two games, but we
don't have a win to show for it. We haven't been able to score, and
we've given up some unfortunate goals."
Travis Green scored two goals for the Coyotes, who completed a
sweep of their three scheduled games this season at Staples Center.
Phoenix was without second-leading scorer Keith Tkachuk, who
couldn't finish the pregame warmup because of back spasms.
"We've been playing a little bit of up-and-down hockey, so it
was nice to come in here and get the win," Green said after the
Coyotes' sixth straight win at Los Angeles.
Luc Robitaille scored on his only shot with 12:06 left in the third to pull the Kings even.
Robitaille took a cross-ice feed in the slot from Jozef Stumpel and beat Bob Essensa to the stick side from 15 feet out. It was his 12th goal and second in 10 games since returning from a broken
foot.
Laperriere scored his fourth goal of the season and third
against Phoenix.
Green, who scored 13 goals in 79 games last season, got his 14th
at 10:18 of the second period to give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead. It
was Green's third goal in 18 games, following a 12-game stretch in
which he scored 11 times.
The Coyotes took a 1-0 lead at 9:14 of the first period on just
their second shot.
Green went around Mattias Norstrom and beat Stephane Fiset high
to the glove side with a short backhander. The power-play goal was
the ninth surrendered by Los Angeles in five games.
The Kings, failing for the fifth time to record the franchise's
1,000th regular-season victory, tied the score at 1 less than 5 1-2
minutes later when Laperriere tipped in a wrist shot from outside
the right circle by Marko Tuomainen.
It was the fourth goal of the season for the NHL's
penalty-minute leader, and Laperriere's second in three games
following a 23-game drought. Defenseman Jere Karalahti, recalled
from the IHL on Sunday, earned an assist for his first NHL point.
Essensa, who made 35 saves, helped extend Glen Murray's goal-scoring drought to seven games when he stopped him on a
breakaway.
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NHL Scoreboard
Phoenix Clubhouse
Los Angeles Clubhouse
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New Jersey 3
NY Rangers 3
Anaheim 1
San Jose 0
Carolina 4
Florida 3
Atlanta 6
Tampa Bay 3
Pittsburgh 4
Chicago 2
Nashville 3
St. Louis 2
Calgary 2
Vancouver 0
Phoenix 3
Los Angeles 2
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