LOS ANGELES _ With the red-hot St. Louis Blues fading in the distance like a pair of receding taillights, the Los Angeles Kings may soon need to choose another target if they hope to make up ground in a playoff race that is quickly approaching the finish line.
To get back in the race they'll have to take care of their own business first, something they couldn't do Tuesday when Arizona's Maxi Domi erased a pair of one-goal deficits in the third period, sending the game to overtime and then a shootout where the Coyotes prevailed, 3-2, when Anthony De Angelo scored in the 11th round at Staples Center.
Domi's second goal came with 45 seconds left, just seconds after the Kings missed a shot at an open net, to send the game to overtime.
Tyler Toffoli scored the Kings' two goals, the second coming with 96 seconds to play.
The Blues have won five straight, gaining ground on Nashville in the Central Division and on Edmonton in the wild-card race. For the Kings, catching either the Predators or Oilers may be more realistic than chasing down St. Louis, given the strength of each team's schedule.
But after the Kings, who have gone to overtime five times in their last eight games, managed to gain just a point Tuesday, how realistic remains an open question. They are four points behind the Blues and have played one more game.
Nashville, which would drop into the wild-card race if the Blues pass them, plays 10 of its next 11 games against teams with winning records, among them Washington and Minnesota and Pacific Division-leading San Jose. Edmonton, which also won Tuesday, leads the Kings by eight points in the wild-card race but the teams will meet three times down the stretch.
The Blues, meanwhile, will play eight games against teams that are below .500, including six with Arizona and Colorado, the two worst teams in the NHL.
However none of that will mean anything if the Kings don't win their own games first.
"Right now we've got to focus on game by game," forward Tanner Pearson said after Tuesday's morning skate.
They couldn't do that Tuesday against an Arizona team buried in the Pacific Division cellar, following Monday's disappointing loss to St. Louis with what may ultimately prove an even more crippling loss to the Coyotes.
Toffoli opened the scoring five minutes into the second period, gathering in the rebound of a Jake Muzzin shot from the point and knocking it past Arizona's Louis Domingue from the low slot for his 13th goal of the season.
Domingue, who was peppered by 45 shots on the night _ not counting the 10 he stopped in the shootout _ then came up big twice in the next 3{ minutes, frustrating Jeff Carter at the end of a breakaway by gloving his wrister from the right faceoff circle, then stuffing Pearson and Toffoli, who chopped at a loose puck during a scramble in the crease.
That kept Arizona in the game, allowing Domi to tie the score early in the third period. After the Kings lost the puck in the neutral zone, the Coyotes picked it up and headed the other way, with Christian Dvorak setting up Domi for a wrister from the slot on the edge of the left circle.
Toffoli and Domi then exchanged goals again, Toffoli scoring on a power play with 1:36 to play and Domi tying the score again less than a minute later.
