LOS ANGELES – Myriad aspiring entertainers will tell you that Hollywood can be a hard place to find success. That is especially the case for the Wild of late.
For some reason, the home of the Los Angeles Kings continues to be a place where nothing comes easy for the visitors in town from Minnesota.
On Monday the Kings got a pair of goals late in the second period, and held off a comeback effort by the visitors. When the final horn blew, the Kings had posted a 4-2 win, and handed Minnesota its first loss in regulation since before Christmas.
Minnesota has now lost, either in overtime or in regulation, six of its last seven visits to downtown Los Angeles.
Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson did what he could, keeping the home team off the scoreboard for the first 35 minutes of the game while not getting goal support despite a trio of Wild power plays in the first two periods. He finished with 30 saves while Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Hartman scored for the Wild.
Los Angeles finally broke a scoreless deadlock late in the middle period when Warren Foegele sailed a shot through a mess of bodies in front of the Wild net, hitting the top corner of the net over Gustavsson’s right shoulder. Marcus Foligno, who had blocked a shot earlier in the shift, left the game for a time, but returned in the third.
After former Wild standout Kevin Fiala fought off a challenge from Minnesota defender Matt Kiersted to make it 2-0, Spurgeon made it a one-goal game with a long-range shot through traffic in the third.
But the momentum was fleeting, as Andrei Kuzmenko had a pretty weave to the net, tucking the puck past Gustavsson.
Minnesota got the game’s first power play and came within an inch of taking the lead when a pretty backhander by Joel Eriksson Ek eluded the Kings goalie’s left shoulder but hit the post and sailed out of danger.
The Kings best chance at a first period lead came late in the opening frame, when a defensive miscue left Los Angeles with two players uncovered in front of the Minnesota net. But Gustavsson made the save and steered the puck to the corner, and the game reached the first intermission with nothing on the scoreboard.
Up 3-1 in the third, the Kings briefly appeared to make it 4-1, but after consulting, officials ruled no goal as the puck was kicked in by Los Angeles forward Quinton Byfield. Instead, the Wild got a four-minute power play when former Hill-Murray standout Mikey Anderson caught Marcus Johansson under the visor with a high stick. Johansson left the game bleeding, aided by trainers.
Hartman scored on the power play for the Wild, which had been held off the board on five previous man advantage situations on Monday.
But with Gustavsson on the bench for an extra attacked, Adrian Kempe’s empty net goal sealed the result.
Darcy Kuemper finished with 32 saves for Los Angeles, as Minnesota fell to 3-1-2 on their current road trip.
Los Angeles lost veteran forward Anze Kopitar to a lower body injury in the game. It was a big loss for the Kings, as Kopitar – who will retire at the end of this season – was playing his 71st game versus Minnesota and has been a Wild-killer since entering the NHL in 2006. He has 61 career points versus Minnesota.
The Wild’s marathon seven-game road trip finally reaches the finish line on Thursday night in Seattle when they make their second, and final, visit to the Kraken this season. Minnesota won 4-1 at Climate Pledge Arena in their first meeting, on Dec. 8.
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