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.

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.

Norstrom hadn't scored a goal in 114 games when he collected a fanned shot by Ziggy Palffy with 4:54 remaining. But 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. They 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.

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 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 Coyotes center Daymond Langkow.

It took five stitches to close the cut, and Langkow received a four-minute double minor for high sticking.

Joe 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.

It should have been easy from there, but the Coyotes changed the momentum early in the second period.

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

Clearly the game had swung in the Coyotes' favor. Outshot 14-5 in the first period, Phoenix held a 12-6 advantage in the second.

The scored remained 3-1 until the first minute of the third period. Nagy took a shot in front that hit the skate of Kings defenseman Jason Holland.

Huet made a terrific stick save just inches from the net, but with the puck resting in the crease, Tate swooped in to score.

The Coyotes had a chance to tie the game with 18:15 remaining when Branko Radivojevic hit the post.

They finally did at 6:52 of the third after Corvo turned the puck over in the Kings' zone. Langkow carried the puck in slowly before giving to Doan.

Huet was defenseless and Doan scored his 12th of the season.

Radivojevic nearly gave the Coyotes the lead midway through the period but Huet made a spectacular save.

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