The Kings extended their season-long winning streak to five games on Saturday and in doing so snapped the Minnesota Wild’s own five-game winning streak. Taking on the NHL’s top team, the Kings silenced the league’s leading scorer Kirill Kaprisov and limited the Wild to just one goal on 23 shots.
Darcy Kuemper returned to the Kings net after missing the previous eight games due to injury and was tested immediately. Coming up big for the Kings in the first minute of the game, Kuemper turned aside the Wild’s top line when Kirill Kaprisov and Marco Rossi found a wide open Matt Boldy for a one-time snap shot in the slot. Still scoreless late in the first period, the Kings benefited from a fortunate bounce and took the lead. Coming with 43 seconds remaining in the period, the Kings took control of possession in the Wild’s end after a turnover by the visitors and an Anze Kopitar cross-ice backdoor pass attempted deflected off of the toe of Marc-Andre Fleury, the skate of Adrian Kempe and into the net. Kopitar’s assist comes in career game 1,400 and home game 700 as the captain became the 11th player in NHL history to play 1,400 games all with the same team.
The Kings added to their lead with a goal in the second period, making it 2-0 almost halfway into the game. Coming on the power play, the Kings second unit notched their first tally of the season when Alex Laferriere beat Fleury with a beautiful wrist shot with the help of a Phillip Danault net-front screen. Laferriere’s tally gives the Harvard product 12 goals on the season, keeping pace with Kempe, remaining one shy of the Swede’s team-leading 13 on the year.
The rather low-event game wrapped up in chaotic fashion with three goals in a 49-second span. Trevor Moore netted a goal to make it 3-0 Kings, but the Wild quickly brought themselves back into the game with a Yakov Trenin goal with the extra attacker on the ice 41 seconds later making it 3-1. Fear not, Moore again scored another empty net goal eight seconds later after the Wild’s goal and iced the game at 4-1.
Kuemper stopped 22 of 23 shots against his former team, earning his fifth win of the season.