ANAHEIM — The Ducks played three good minutes on Friday night at Honda Center, maybe the best attacking, relentless hockey they’ve played all season. Trouble was, they needed more than those three minutes to subdue the Arizona Coyotes and extend their winning streak to three in a row.

Three good minutes simply wasn’t going to cut it, even against the last-place team in the NHL’s overall standings. So, after the Ducks lost an early two-goal lead and were tied heading into the third period, they found themselves in serious trouble against the suddenly confident Coyotes.

Although they rallied to send the game to overtime and banked another point in the standings, the Pacific Division-leading Ducks dropped a 6-5 decision to the Coyotes on Clayton Keller’s goal 2:09 into the extra period.

Trevor Zegras gave the Ducks an all-too-brief 4-3 lead 2:07 into the third period, but Andrew Ladd and Phil Kessel scored a little more than a minute apart to put the Coyotes in front, 5-4, at 9:41. Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm then scored the second of his two goals to tie it, 5-5, at 13:10.

The first period was nothing if not entertaining, with the Ducks leading 3-2 after an electric sequence in which they scored three times in less than three minutes. There were signs that all was not well with their game, though, and the Coyotes were opportunistic in staying within striking distance.

Kevin Shattenkirk, Lindholm and Derek Grant scored only 2:54 apart as the Ducks erased a 1-0 deficit to lead 3-1, as Honda Center crackled with energy. If the fans thought this would be a laugher, an easy night filled with goals and big leads, they were sadly mistaken.

So were the Ducks.

Christian Fischer’s power-play goal at 15:12 of the first period was a reminder that the Coyotes weren’t going to roll over and play dead for the Ducks, whose lead was cut to 3-2. In fact, that should have been evident to the Ducks after not one but two first-period fights at center ice.

Nicolas Deslauriers of the Ducks got the better of Liam O’Brien in the first fight, and he was furious with the Coyotes’ tough guy as they separated and skated to the penalty boxes. Sam Carrick hammered Arizona’s Johan Larsson in the second bout but also earned a roughing penalty.

It was during that power play that Fischer scored and changed the complexion of the game.

The Ducks’ play wasn’t up to their recent high standards in the second and they also suffered from lapses in discipline, thwarting their momentum with a series of penalties. Simon Benoit and Max Comtois sandwiched roughing penalties around Troy Terry’s high-sticking infraction.

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Comtois, a left wing who was the Ducks’ leading scorer with 16 goals and 33 points last season, was back in the lineup after a 16-game absence after surgery on his right hand. He skated on the Ducks’ top line, joining Terry and Ryan Getzlaf. He was denied on a second-period breakaway.

The Coyotes tied it, 3-3, moments after Scott Wedgewood turned away Comtois on a breakaway, when Keller converted on a breakaway at 19:26 of the second period. John Gibson was upset he couldn’t stop Keller, who made a shifty move to score.

The game was contested with only three officials after linesman Ryan Gibbons was placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol beforehand. Brad Meier was the lone referee with Reid Anderson shifting roles from referee to linesman to work the lines along with Travis Gawryletz.

More to come on this story.