Los Angeles 4; Phoenix 1

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- After retiring the No. 99 jersey worn by Wayne Gretzky during his playing days, the Los Angeles Kings Wednesday night extended their unbeaten streak in season openers to nine games with a 4-1

victory over the Phoenix Coyotes.

Defenseman Mathieu Schneider and Ziggy Palffy each had a power-play goal and an assist for Los Angeles, which improved to 6

More than six years after he left Los Angeles, Gretzky was welcomed back during pregame ceremonies as his jersey joined ones worn by Rogie Vachon, Marcel Dionne and Dave Taylor in the rafters at the Staples Center.

The Kings also donned black and silver uniforms like the ones they wore during the Gretzky era.

"It was definitely great to be here to see the ceremony," said Ian Laperriere, who capped the scoring for Los Angeles midway through the third period. "He did so many things for every player in this room and for Los Angeles hockey. Let's be honest. Salaries are the way they are because of him."

Gretzky, now the Coyotes managing partner, watched Phoenix become the first in the NHL penalized for violating the league's new hurry-up rule on line changes and faceoffs. The Coyotes also surrendered a power-play goal after they were called for having too many men on the ice.

"The other team has the same rules, so that shouldn't be an excuse," said Coyotes Coach Bob Francis. "We're well aware of their power play and we didn't want to spend any time in the box, if possible, and we shot ourselves in the foot. When you do that against Los Angeles, with the skill they put out there, you're asking for trouble."

Defenseman Danny Markov had the lone goal for Phoenix, which had a six-game unbeaten streak in the series snapped.

"We were in the game going into the third period and, unfortunately, we got a few penalties that turned it around," said Coyotes goalie Sean Burke, who made 29 saves. "That was the difference."

Kings goalie Felix Potvin stopped 25 shots.