Everything in the preseason has to be taken with a grain of salt. But the Coyotes can at least be pleased with what they got out of their special teams units on Tuesday.

In their first home preseason game, the Coyotes knocked off the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 at Gila River Arena behind three goals on the power play and several effective penalty kills.

For a team that finished 25th out of 31 teams on the power play last season, the ease at which the Coyotes created opportunities during the man-advantage was especially refreshing for a team that struggled in that area throughout much of 2018-19.

The Coyotes’ first power-play unit on Tuesday could very well be the one the club goes with for Opening Night on Oct. 4 in Dallas. The group of Clayton Keller, Derek Stepan, Richard Panik, Alex Galchenyuk and Oliver Ekman-Larsson put on a clinic during the first and second periods.

Just nine seconds after the Coyotes were staked to their first power play of the game, Panik collected a no-look pass by Keller and beat Kings goaltender Jack Campbell at 4:49 of the first period. Ekman-Larsson, wearing the “C” for the first time on Tuesday, registered the secondary assist.

The Coyotes got their second power play with 8:25 left in the opening frame and the first unit again did an effective job cycling the puck and passing around the perimeter to create chances.

But it wasn’t until the arrival of the second unit — Keller, Christian Fischer, Barrett Hayton, Vinnie Hinostroza and Jason Demers — when the Coyotes capitalized on a scoring chance. This time it was Hinostroza, who skated around the net and rifled one inside the post to give Arizona a 2-0 lead.

The Coyotes found themselves having to kill off back-to-back minor penalties by defenseman Kyle Capobianco and did so with relative ease. Galchenyuk almost beat the horn that signaled the end of the second penalty with the team’s third goal of the night.

Keller and Ekman-Larsson were both given assists on Galchenyuk’s goal as the Coyotes held 3-0 edge after the first.

The Coyotes were actually an average team on the penalty last season with a 79.5 percentage that ranked 19th in the NHL. They were 8 for 10 (80 percent) in such situations on Tuesday, including back-to-back kills during a 5-on-3 opportunity for the Kings in the second.

It didn’t take long for the Coyotes to find themselves on the power play again after the first intermission, and before they knew it there were two Kings players in the penalty box and Arizona had a 5-on-3 advantage.

Ekman-Larsson found Galchenyuk with a horizontal pass and Galchenyuk ripped it past Campbell for his second goal to give the Coyotes a 4-0 lead early in the second. It was Ekman-Larsson’s third and final assist of the night.

Head coach Rick Tocchet highlighted Galchenyuk’s play after the game.

“I thought he played a 200-foot game,” Tocchet said. “Alex is committed and he wants to play center. He’s doing a nice job. … And obviously he’s got that shot. He got two goals tonight, and he needs to keep shooting the puck.”

The Coyotes converted on two of their first three power plays in the game, not including Galchenyuk’s goal during their lone 5-on-3 attempt. Ekman-Larsson said the group had practiced the power play just once before Tuesday’s game.

“It’s hard because we hadn’t really worked on the power play yet,” Ekman-Larsson said. “To me, it looked pretty good. We just kept it simple by moving the puck around. It can only get better from there.”

This, of course, does not suggest that the Coyotes are going to score three goals a night on the power play. Odds are that at least half of the Kings’ roster on Tuesday won’t even make the team, so it’s important to consider the level of competition.

It’s difficult to truly analyze a team in preseason, but the most tangible things to look at are the mechanics of the game.

There was little doubt that the Coyotes’ first power-play unit exhibited crisp passing and effective puck management that could translate well to the regular season. Of course, there’s still the possibility that Tocchet will have different special teams units come October.

Yes, the three power-play goals are nice to see from a power-play unit that experienced extended scoring droughts last season. But that doesn’t make it less dangerous to read too much into preseason statistics.

Coyotes win in L.A.

On the second end of a split-squad series with the Kings on Tuesday, the Coyotes contingent in Los Angeles also picked up a win, defeating the Kings by a 4-3 score.

Brendan Perlini tallied a goal and an assist while Lawson Crouse, Nate Scnarr and Conor Garland also scored for the Coyotes.

The Coyotes are now 2-1 this preseason. Their next preseason game is against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Gila River Arena. It is the final home game of the preseason.

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Richard Morin covers the Coyotes and Diamondbacks for azcentral sports. He can be reached at [email protected] and by phone at 480-316-2493. Follow him on Twitter @ramorin_azc.