GLENDALE, Ariz. -- It's hard to decide which was worse for the Coyotes on Thursday -- the day or the night.
Before Arizona ever took the ice against its most hated rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, at Gila River Arena, TSN reported that general manager Don Maloney went into the Arizona dressing room after the team's listless loss to Calgary last Saturday and threatened his players who currently have limited no-trade clauses that he would seek trades.
#Coyotes GM Don Maloney declined comment on @TSNBobMcKenzie report he threatened to deal players w/limited NT clauses:http://t.co/1oIlsBxWts
— Craig Morgan (@cmorganfoxaz) December 5, 2014
Then word came down from the NHL that the Board of Governors would not vote on Andrew Barroway's deal to purchase 51 percent of the club at its meetings next week in Boca Raton, Fla.
Per #Coyotes sources, BOG approval is still expected. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: "Transactions can take time. Still a work in progress."
— Craig Morgan (@cmorganfoxaz) December 5, 2014
Then the most hated NHL player in Phoenix, Kings captain Dustin Brown, took over, scoring a pair of goals, assisting on a third and setting up a perfect screen on a fourth in Los Angeles' far-too-easy 4-0 win.
The loss extended the Coyotes' home losing streak to six games. That is the team's longest home losing streak since dropping six straight from Jan. 27-Feb. 16, 2009, in Wayne Gretzky's final year as coach.
The loss prompted a team meeting in the locker room that lasted about 20 minutes while media members waited outside after talking to coach Dave Tippett.
"Everyone had an opportunity to kind of express themselves," captain Shane Doan. "There will be a lot of people pointing fingers from the outside. We've got to make sure we are good on the inside.
"Our belief in each other has to be better and we have got to have a belief in the fact that we're a good enough team to win and when you get down one or two you have the ability to come back."
The Coyotes actually looked OK in the game's early going, but as has been the case much of the season, they failed to capitalize on chances.
Brown opened the scoring off a neutral zone turnover by forward Kyle Chipchura. Chipchura tried to drop a blind pass to his defense and didn't see Brown streaking toward the Coyotes blue line. Brown intercepted the pass, skated in alone on Coyotes goalie Mike Smith and gave L.A. a 1-0 lead at the 8:59 mark of the first period.
The pivotal point of the game came when Brown scored his second of the game and sixth of the season after Arizona center Joe Vitale just missed knocking home a rebound at the other end. Skating in on an odd-man rush, Brown used Coyotes defenseman David Schlemko as a screen, snapped a shot between Schlemko's legs and over Smith's left shoulder for a 2-0 lead midway through the second period.
"We had two pucks inches from the goal line and can't get it over," Tippett said of the game-altering sequence. "We were working real hard. The problem is, everybody works real hard. It's execution and what you do after that that gets the results."
Kings center Jarret Stoll added a power play goal six minutes later off a deflection of defenseman Alec Martinez's shot from between the circles, and Martinez scored a third-period power-play goal. Los Angeles' power play had been 2 for 31 on the road before Thursday.
Stoll's goal led Tippett to pull Smith (three goals on 20 shots) in favor of backup Devan Dubnyk.
"I'm done with excuses. It's got to stop," said Smith, whose record is 5-13-2 this season.
"It's easy to point fingers at everyone else but at the end of the day it's what you can do to be better. I've got to better. It's that simple, whether they're deflections or screen shots or breakaways or whatever they are. You've got to make more saves to give your team a chance when we're struggling.
"When you're paid to be a top player on your team you've got to perform like one. That hasn't happened."
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