The Kings closed out their road back-to-back in Minnesota and did so with another impressive multi-goal win. Just 24 hours after shutting out the Nashville Predators, the Kings shut down a threatening Minnesota Wild offense and came out victorious 5-1.
It wasn’t a straightforward win for the Kings on Tuesday. The Kings got off to a slow start and were on their back foot for the first half of the game. Scoreless as the game approached the midway point of the second period, the Wild took a 1-0 lead when Zach Bogosian ripped a shot in the high slot past a screened David Rittich. At the halfway point of the game, the Wild were controlling play and had a 16-4 shot lead. Then, the momentum flipped with 12:05 remaining in second period when Kirill Kaprizov took a puck to the face and exited the game for the remainder of the period. From there, it was all Kings. The Kings evened the game with 5:30 to go in the middle stanza when Quinton Byfield won the sprint to the puck on the forecheck and fed a back door Alex Laferriere on the weak side. Laferriere’s shot didn’t find pay dirt, but Warren Foegele found the rebound in the crease and buried his fifth goal of the season. Then, after handily killing off three Wild power plays through just about two periods, the Kings earned their first power play and converted. Former Wild Kevin Fiala put the Kings ahead with a his second one-timer in a five second span, scoring his seventh goal of the season and extended his point streak to five games (3-4=7). The Kings led 2-1 after two.
Up a goal, the Kings extended their lead 7:39 into the third period when their fourth line found the back of the net. In tight near the Wild’s crease, all three forwards chipped in to double the Kings lead. Trevor Lewis beat Filip Gustavsson five hole in the midst of a scrap with assists coming from Andre Lee and Tanner Jeannot. Adding to the lead seven minutes later, Byfield was able to get the monkey off his back and notched his first goal of the season with a beautiful slot tip-in. The goal for Byfield earned him his first multi-point game of the season. Closing out the Wild’s hopes of a comeback late in the game was Lewis, as the veteran nailed an empty netter for his second goal of the game. Lewis’ goals against the Wild are the 100th and 101st of his career.
The dominant second half of the game by the Kings saw them outshoot the Wild 24-8.
Rittich stopped 23 of 24 shots faced, improving his record to 4-3-0.
