Los Angeles defeats fan favorite Gretzky

Alexander Frolov scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in the second period, giving the Los Angeles Kings a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday night that kept Wayne Gretzky winless as an NHL coach.

The Coyotes had a man advantage for most of the final minute but didn’t score, dropping Gretzky’s record to 0-2. Phoenix lost 3-2 at Vancouver on Wednesday.

The coaching milestone of the night belonged to the Kings’ Andy Murray, who became the club’s all-time winningest coach with his 179th victory.

Gretzky was still the evening’s attraction.

The sellout crowd of 18,118 cheered loudly when he was shown on the scoreboard late in the second period. He looked up, smiled and gave a brief wave as the song “Simply the Best” blared in Staples Center, where his retired No. 99 jersey hangs on the wall.

Canadiens 4, Rangers 3 (OT): At New York, Michael Ryder struck for the second straight night, wristing a shot off goaltender Kevin Weekes 2:10 into overtime that gave Montreal a victory over New York.

Ryder, who had Montreal’s first goal of the game, also had the game-winning score Wednesday with 11 seconds remaining in the Canadiens’ season-opening 2-1 victory at Boston.

Red Wings 4, Blues 3: At St. Louis, Robert Lang had a goal and an assist, and Jason Williams had three assists to lead Detroit to a season-opening, home-and-home sweep of St. Louis.

Ice chips

Toronto captain Mats Sundin could miss four to six weeks after breaking the lower orbital bone when he was hit in the face by a puck just 7 minutes into Wednesday’s season-opening loss to Ottawa. … Rookie Cam Ward will take over in goal for the injured Martin Gerber (pulled hip muscle) when Carolina plays Pittsburgh today. … Atlanta put goalie Kari Lehtonen on injured reserve after he hurt his groin during the first period of Wednesday’s season opener against Florida.