Wild get fifth straight victory, end Kings winning streak at six

ST. PAUL, Minn. --The Minnesota Wild won their fifth straight game and ended the Los Angeles Kings' streak at six with a 3-1 victory at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

Cam Talbot made 27 saves for Minnesota (11-6-0) in his first game since Feb. 2 (NHL COVID-19 protocol).
"To start, it took me a little bit to get my legs under me," Talbot said. "But I think that's going to happen anytime you take 23, 24 days off. The biggest thing for me was just trying not to rush back and just waiting until I thought I was ready, and that ended up being tonight. So just happy to be back out there with the guys and contribute and get a big win."
The Wild scored the three goals in 3:03 in the first period. They have outscored opponents 23-7 during the winning streak.
Jonathan Quick made 27 saves for Los Angeles (9-7-3).
"We didn't respond well after the first [goal]," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "[The Wild] earned it. They created an opportunity, they made a good play behind the net, and it was in. And life goes on. We haven't had that feeling of falling behind in a long time, and I didn't think we responded very well. We had a three-minute lapse … and it took us the rest of that period and pretty much all of the second period to stabilize within the game."
The teams are scheduled to play here again Saturday.
Kirill Kaprizov got his own rebound and scored on a wraparound while falling to give the Wild a 1-0 lead at 12:33.
"His separation from people is clearly special," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said of the 23-year-old rookie forward. "Combine that with his attitude, his team-first mentality, it's exciting for us as an organization."

Nick Bjugstad made it 2-0 at 14:31 when he backhanded a carom off the end boards that eluded Quick for his 100th NHL goal.
Joel Eriksson Ek made it 3-0 at 15:36 when he scored on a second chance from the slot after Quick made the save on his shot from in close.
"I felt like all four lines, all the D-men, everyone was going. [Talbot], especially his first game back, he was definitely great for us tonight," Bjugstad said. "I think having all four lines rolling, and it's a lot of fun when you're playing in their end and you're creating chemistry. I feel like the last three, four games we really started to connect and play well with each other."

Jeff Carter made it 3-1 at 17:10 of the third period when Andreas Athanasiou's pass into the crease on the rush went in off him.
"The last two periods had been better," Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar said. "Still not up to our standards, but we stopped the bleeding, I guess, a little bit. Tomorrow's a new game, and we're going to have to be much better than we were tonight."
NOTES: Talbot went on the COVID-19 protocol list Feb. 9 and came off Feb. 18. He backed up Kaapo Kahkonen the previous two games. … Kaprizov has two goals and five assists during a four-game point streak. Three of his five goals have come against the Kings. … Mats Zuccarello had an assist on Kaprizov's goal to extend his assist and point streaks to five games (three goals, seven assists). … Los Angeles rookie defenseman Mikey Anderson missed a second straight game with a lower-body injury. He was a game-time decision. … The Kings allowed two goals or fewer in each of their previous six games.