Kings find some spark in 4-0 win

Instead of a playoff race, the Kings have seemed better suited for a soap box derby this season.

After a rolling start, it has been all downhill.

For one rare night, however, the Kings stepped on the gas from start to finish against the Phoenix Coyotes, scoring three goals in a six-minute span of the second period Thursday night to supply goaltender Erik Ersberg with some much-needed wiggle room in the 4-0 victory at Staples Center.

The Coyotes didn’t play like the team with more to lose. With five games to play, they came in six points shy of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and owning a 6-0-1 record this season against the Kings, who moved into a tie with Tampa Bay for the fewest points in the league. Phoenix had given up only two goals in three previous games in Los Angeles.

But they had no answer for Ersberg, the 26-year-old Swede who performed masterfully for the second consecutive night, stopping 38 shots to record his second shutout in his 11th NHL game. A night earlier, Ersberg stopped 39 of 40 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss to Anaheim at the Honda Center.

“I was a little tired, but I think everybody was,” Ersberg said.

While the goaltending has been mostly solid for the Kings this month, with opponents held to two goals or fewer in eight of the previous 11 games, the team had been lacking in offensive production, the one area in which it has been fairly consistent this season. Coming into the game, the Kings had scored two goals or fewer in nine of their previous 12 games.

Anze Kopitar came in leading the team in points (71) and second in goals (29), but had not scored a goal in the previous seven games, matching the longest goal-less streak of his career. He got the Kings started in the second period, however, assisting on the first and third goals and scoring on the second.

“I definitely got that [30th goal] off my shoulder,” he said. “I think we were really sharp today and we didn’t give up a lot. The things that we gave up was pretty much from the outside and [Ersberg] took care of those.”

Ersberg’s play prevented the Kings from taking a look at 21-year-old goalie Daniel Taylor, who was recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate in Manchester, N.H., earlier in the day after Dan Cloutier was diagnosed with a strained groin.

Taylor began the season at the team’s second-tier minor-league team in Reading, Pa., but was 5-0 for Manchester during January, earning AHL goalie-of-the-month honors.

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