LOS ANGELES — The Kings tamed the Minnesota Wild for the second time in three nights, taking Monday’s affair, 4-2, at Crypto.com Arena after winning Saturday’s game in a shootout.
They won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 8 and did so not only against strong opposition but under adverse circumstances. Captain Anže Kopitar (lower-body injury) and Joel Armia (upper-body injury) exited the match in the first and second periods, respectively, leaving the Kings with just 10 forwards in uniform. They were already missing Trevor Moore, who was absent for a third straight game.
Warren Foegele lit the lamp. Then, Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko assisted on each other’s goals before Adrian Kempe found the empty net. Brian Dumoulin contributed two assists. Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves, and the Kings killed five of six penalties against one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
Jared Spurgeon had one goal and helped set up another by Ryan Hartman for the Wild, who saw their six-game point streak come to an end. Filip Gustavsson stopped 29 shots.
“This season’s [been] so hard for us. We have not played well,” Kuzmenko said. “I hope every day is better and better and better. These two wins were so important to us, because Minnesota is a great team with a lot of great players.”
He added: “Thank you so much to whoever played on the (penalty kill).”
Early in the third period, Kuemper stoned Joel Eriksson Ek on a one-timer to preserve the Kings’ two-goal cushion with 16:45 to play.
Minnesota broke up Kuemper’s shutout 2:40 later. Jonas Brodin’s D-to-D pass set up Spurgeon’s one-timer, which was deflected by Foegele. It knuckled to the far side past Kuemper, whom the Wild drafted in 2009.
Coming into the night, the line of Fiala, Kuzmenko and Alex Turcotte had out-chanced but not outscored opponents. That changed Monday as Kuzmenko’s goal put the offensively ambitious line into the black and the Kings ahead 3-1 with 10:40 remaining.
Kuzmenko received the puck from Dumoulin and though he was initially facing four defenders, his artful pivot left him isolated against Danila Yurov. Kuzmenko drove the net and danced across the crease to score from in tight.
“When I stopped at the blue line, I listened for my defenseman (Dumoulin), he said ‘Kuzy, Kuzy, Kuzy.’ I go, ‘okay,’ I stop, I wait for (Dumoulin), I see the left side and I say ‘where’s (Dumoulin)?’ He said ‘Kuzy, good luck, don’t worry about me,’” Kuzmenko said. “It was a little bit of a bad situation on the blue line, so I went to the net and tried, it was a good try … it was an interesting moment, because if (Dumoulin) supported me, I wouldn’t have scored this goal.”
On the heels of Kempe’s hooking infraction, a double-minor penalty for high sticking to Mikey Anderson gave the Wild life. They converted a man up on a play that went from high to low to the bumper for Hartman’s kneeling goal to get within 3-2 with 4:39 on the clock.
Minnesota could get no closer after facing an uphill battle at the second intermission. The visitors ceded the empty-netter to Kempe with 99 seconds left before the final horn. Kempe and Fiala are tied for the team lead with 15 goals apiece.
The Kings entered the game with the second fewest second-period goals in the NHL this season, but they broke through with a pair at the 15:34 and 17:52 marks to head to the dressing room with a 2-0 edge.
Not long after a savvy play by Brandt Clarke shut down a second-chance bid off the rush, the Kings earned the game’s first goal.
Jeff Malott created one shot attempt for Foegele that went wide before Dumoulin found him for another that flew under the crossbar from high in the zone. It was Foegele’s sixth goal of the season. Foegele later engineered a goal for Quinton Byfield, but it was disallowed for a kicking motion.
Fiala extended their lead on a sequence with as much verve and guile as the Kings have shown on a goal all season.
Drew Doughty’s bank off the end boards led to Turcotte’s stretch pass for Kuzmenko. The ebullient Russian’s quick exchange at the blue line with Fiala left him with the puck again. He stickhandled his way into the slot and slipped the puck across for Fiala, who had outsmarted and outmuscled Matt Kiersted in the paint for a tap-in tally.
“Kevin’s not a selfish guy, same as me. If I see Kevin open, I always pass it. If Kevin sees me open, he passes it to me,” Kuzmenko said. “Kevin passed to me and Kevin got open, I waited a little bit for Kevin to go behind the defense. It was a good score for our line, and (Turcotte) made a great play in the defensive zone.”
The first period featured decent pace but no scoring, with the Kings killing the period’s only penalty and weathering some suspect puck management by their defensemen.
Kings coach Jim Hiller said more would be known regarding Kopitar, Armia and Moore ahead of Wednesday’s showdown with the San Jose Sharks.
“Guys [were] picking up their games to help the guys that were out of the lineup, and guys stepping into big roles, playing more minutes, cherishing that opportunity and going out and playing like they did tonight,” Kuemper said.