KINGS' HOWL IS ONE OF PAIN COYOTES COME BACK FROM THREE GOALS DOWN, TIE GAME LATE KINGS 4, PHOENIX 4.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

The Kings thought all their sins were forgiven Thursday night when Mattias Norstrom scored late in the third period after the club blew a three-goal lead.

Norstrom hadn't scored in 114 games, the kind of stat that suggests something special might be going on this season.

The Kings thought wrong.

Ladislav Nagy, who recorded a hat trick the last time Phoenix played the Kings, scored with 1:10 remaining in regulation to give the Coyotes a 4-4 tie at Staples Center.

``We always preach about getting out to a fast start, but this time we just gave it away,'' said Norstrom, who scored after Ziggy Palffy fanned on a shot near the Coyotes' net. ``You never can think a game is won until it's over and we lost sight of that.''

The Kings never completely recaptured their early momentum and were drained even further when Nagy scored over the left shoulder of Kings goaltender Cristobal Huet after Phoenix pulled goaltender Brian Boucher.

Even though Palffy had a breakaway in the final seconds of overtime that was stopped by Boucher, the Kings came away knowing they could have done better.

With the tie, the Kings (16-11-2-3) extended their Pacific Division lead to four points over San Jose, which lost to St. Louis. The Kings have played three wild games against the Coyotes (10-11-9-1) this year, winning 7-3 on Nov. 1 and losing 6-4 on Nov. 27.

Before Norstrom and Nagy swapped goals at the end, Alexander Frolov, Lubomir Visnovsky and Luc Robitaille scored first-period goals for the Kings. Jan Hrdina, Jeff Taffe and Shane Doan (shorthanded) scored for the Coyotes.

Doan's goal was particularly painful for Kings coach Andy Murray. His team was on the power play when Joe Corvo, who has been playing well the past few games, tried a backhanded pass. It was stolen by Daymond Langkow, who started a 2-on-0 break with Doan.

Doan's goal came at the 6:52 mark and tied the game.

``We made plenty of mistakes,'' Murray said. ``We didn't play well with the lead. That one really stung.''

The Kings came in 13-2-1-2 when they score first, and Thursday night they built a lead that seemed impossible to give back.

Just 3:32 into the game, Eric Belanger moved in on Boucher and fired. The puck bounded off Boucher's body and bounced to the left. Frolov was standing there and scored his 10th of the year.

The Kings were back at it just 1:56 later when Visnovsky scored in traffic over Boucher's right shoulder. After going 20 games without a goal, Visnovsky has two in the last two games.

But he was not on the ice when the Kings scored their third goal with just 13 seconds left in the period.

Visnovsky was whacked in the face by Langkow, who received a four-minute double minor for high sticking.

Corvo took over for Visnovsky on the power play and went right to work, feeding Jaroslav Modry in the high slot.

Modry fired into traffic and Robitaille redirected it for his eighth goal and fifth on the power play.

``The first 20 minutes of the game were an embarrassment,'' Coyotes coach Bob Francis said. ``It was getting to the point where we had to get into individual faces. Others are trying to hide behind other individuals - they will be exposed.''

Whatever Francis said worked. The Kings outshot Phoenix 14-5 in the first period, but the Coyotes had a 12-6 advantage in the second.

Visnovsky returned to the lineup but was whistled for holding at 2:50 of the second.

Thirty seconds later, Sean Avery was called for a high stick.

With a 5-on-3 advantage, Phoenix scored at 4:07 when Nagy fed Jan Hrdina in front. Hrdina saw a sprawled Huet and lifted the puck into the top of the net to make it a two-goal game.

``Our penalty killing this year hasn't been good, but we needed a stop there,'' Murray said. ``We couldn't get it.''

Matt McHale, [phone]

matt.mchale(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Kings' Lubomir Visnovsky (17) fights for control of the puck against Phoenix's Ladislav Nagy in the second period.

Edna T. Simpson/Daily News

(2) Kings goaltender Cristobal Huet blocks a shot by Phoenix's Branko Radivojevic in the teams' 4-4 tie Thursday.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press