Wild's hot streak hits snag with 4-1 loss to Kings

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Dec 7, 2024

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

LOS ANGELES – No one has stumped the Wild like the Kings have.

After handing the Wild their most lopsided loss earlier in the season, Los Angeles delivered another blow on Saturday night by cooling the Wild, 4-1, at Crypto.com Arena to end their season-long five-game win streak.

This was only the fifth regulation loss for the Wild (18-5-4), and the Kings are the only team to deny the Wild points twice. Although their 40 points are tied with the Capitals and Jets for the most in the NHL, the Wild dropped to second because Washington has won more games in regulation.

Los Angeles’ Adrian Kempe scored a last-minute goal in the first period to put an exclamation point on a forgettable start by the Wild that bled into the second where the Kings widened their lead on the power play to give former Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper a victory in his return to the crease from injury.

Kuemper finished with 23 saves, while Marc-Andre Fleury had 30 stops in his first regulation loss of the season after starting 5-0-1.

Fleury was the only fresh face in the lineup, as everyone else played the previous night in the 5-1 romp at Anaheim, and Wild skaters didn’t bring their execution with them on the ride from Orange County.

They looked glitchy but kept pace with Los Angeles thanks to Fleury’s initial 11 saves. But the Kings exited the first period ahead after Kempe crashed the crease to redirect a puck in off his skate with 43 seconds left. Anze Kopitar, appearing in his 1,400th game, had the setup.

The second period was worse for the Wild.

Not only did they register just three shots, but they whiffed on the power play (0 for 2) and gave up an insurance goal during the Kings’ first of two chances.

While Marcus Johansson was in the penalty box for kneeing, a collision with Vladislav Gavrikov that left Johansson slow to get up, Los Angeles went up 2-0 on a left-side shot from Alex Laferriere at 8:33 that former Wild forward Kevin Fiala factored into for his 10th point in eight games against the Wild since they traded him to the Kings for Brock Faber and a first-round draft pick (Liam Ohgren) in 2022.

During the third, Trevor Moore buried two empty-netters, at 18:06 and 18:55. In between, Yakov Trenin wrecked Kuemper’s shutout bid at 18:47 with his second goal in as many games.

This was a closer finish than when the Kings ran away, 5-1, on Nov.5 at Xcel Energy Center after converting three goals in the third period, but the rematch wasn’t as competitive.

Los Angeles was in control early and never faltered. The Wild, meanwhile, weren’t as decisive and cohesive — traits that led to their recent tear and have been their hallmarks on the road where they dropped to 11-2-3 to end a nine-game point streak. Kirill Kaprizov was held pointless for just the fifth time.

But this trip can still end on the upswing if the Wild rebound on Tuesday in their first game at Utah since the team relocated from Arizona.