Brown scores four goals to help Kings top Wild, retake third in Pacific

LOS ANGELES -- Dustin Brown scored four goals to help the Los Angeles Kings move into third place in the Pacific Division with a 5-4 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild at Staples Center on Thursday.
Los Angeles (45-28-8) is one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks, who have a game in hand. The Kings trail the San Jose Sharks by two points for second place.

"It's definitely something I've never done before, so it's nice," Brown said. "And to do it to try to climb in the standings, it's a big win for us, which is ultimately the most important thing."
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Kings highlights]
Brown scored 23 seconds into overtime on a one-timer from Anze Kopitar. It was Brown's 61st point (28 goals, 33 assists) of the season, setting a NHL career high. He had 60 points in 2007-08.
"What I loved about the last goal is he did it from checking," Kings coach John Stevens said. "He got in there, knocked the guy off the puck like we've seen him do so many times, and then the guys on the ice made a great play."

Tobias Rieder also scored to help the Kings to their fourth win in five games (4-0-1). Jonathan Quick made 23 saves.
Matt Dumba scored for the second straight game, and Nate Prosser had a shorthanded goal for the Wild (44-26-11), who will play the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Ryan Murphy and Eric Staal each had a goal, Mikko Koivu had three assists, and Alex Stalock made 23 saves.
Prosser tied it at 4-4 at 9:24 of the third period. Staal scored his 41st at 5:42 of the third during a delayed penalty to cut the lead to 4-3.
"There's a lot of good you can take from this game," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "You battled back against the team that's the best third-period team in the League. They stayed with the program and consequently got rewarded for it a little bit."

The Kings scored three goals in the second period, with Brown getting his third goal -- and fourth NHL hat trick -- at 19:10 for a 4-2 lead. Rieder redirected a pass from Christian Folin for a 3-2 advantage at 12:57. Brown had a power-play goal at 7:42 to tie it 2-2.
Drew Doughty had an assist on Brown's second goal to set an NHL career high with 60 points (10 goals, 50 assists). He had 59 points in 2009-10. Doughty also became the fourth defenseman in Kings history with 50 assists in a season and first since Lubomir Visnovsky (50 in 2005-06).
Daniel Brickley
had an assist on Rieder's goal for his first NHL point in his NHL debut.

"He's got really good poise with the puck and I think he's got some escapability with the puck," Stevens said. "I think you saw that, and he'll tell you it's a really good reference point to get into the League at this time of year."
The Kings took a 1-0 lead 55 seconds into the first when Brown tipped Folin's shot for his 25th goal. The Wild tied the game at 1-1 at 3:12 on Murphy's second goal, then went in front 2-1 at 5:02 on Dumba's 14th goal of the season.

Goal of the game

Brown's goal 23 seconds into overtime.

Save of the game

Quick stopping Jason Zucker's shot at 14:18 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Brown's goal at 19:10 of the second period.

They said it

"I thought his game was trending in the right direction last year. I said if you're not at least a 20-goal scorer again, then I don't know what I'm doing. And he kind of laughed, but you could see he believed it, too." -- Kings coach John Stevens on Dustin Brown
"We spent the whole game playing the up-slope. We fought through a lot, two 5-on-3s. The 3-on-3 left a lot to be desired, but there's none of that in the playoffs." -- Wild center Eric Staal

Need to know

Brown is the 14th player in Kings history to score four goals in a game and second this season (Kopitar, March 22 at Colorado). The last time the Kings had multiple four-goal games was in 1983-84 (Bernie Nicholls, Brian MacLellan). ... Kings forward Torrey Mitchell and defenseman Paul LaDue did not play because of flu-like symptoms. The Kings recalled forward Jonny Brodzinski and defenseman Oscar Fantenberg from Ontario of the American Hockey League because "there were a few guys that weren't feeling that great," Stevens said, but both were scratched. … Doughty has five points (goal, four assists) in a four-game point streak. ... Kopitar has six points (two goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak.

What's next

Wild:At the San Jose Sharks on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA+, FS-N, NHL.TV)
Kings:Host the Dallas Stars on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; NHLN (JIP), FS-W, FS-SW+, NHL.TV)