LA Kings vs. Wild: Twitter breakdown, three stars, quotes in 4-3 OT loss

Despite climbing back from a 3-0 deficit, the LA Kings fell in overtime to the Minnesota Wild on the final game of their road trip.

In what felt like deja vu, the LA Kings found themselves down 3-0 for the second consecutive night against the same opponent. The Minnesota Wild have been a tough adversary for the Kings this season. Luckily, Los Angeles will only have to face Minnesota one more time this season, on April 23 matchup at Staples Center.

As for Saturday’s contest, The Kings jumped out to a much faster start, leading the way in shots on net. But the Wild were able to string together two goals three minutes apart, taking a 2-0 lead into the locker room after the first period.

Moving into the second frame, Kirill Kaprizov made it a 3-0 Wild lead. The rookie sensation has absolutely killed the Kings this year.

Drew Doughty was able to stop the bleeding with an excellent put-back goal to give the Kings some life just 2:51 into the second period.  Some time passed between scoring, but Austin Wagner scored his third goal of the season, a breakaway to bring the Kings within one goal with eight minutes left.

With just under three minutes separating the Kings from taking zero points in two games with the Wild, Adrian Kempe tallied his first goal, a power play goal, since February 7.

Heading into overtime, Cal Petersen made a few incredible saves, including one on a breakaway from Kaprizov. It looked like the Kings and Wild were headed for a shootout before Matt Dumba played hero, scoring with 0.3 seconds. It instantly brought flashbacks to the second game of the year when Marcus Johansson beat the Kings in overtime with 11 seconds left.

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LA Kings Three Stars

3 stars

Adrian Kempe: game-tying goal and his first in quite some time. Also had an assist on Doughty’s goal.

2 stars

Drew Doughty: second-period goal gave the team some life. Collected an assist on Kempe’s goal.

1 star

Anze Kopitar: another two assists for the LA Kings captain.

Postgame Quotes

Kempe on the team’s ability to come back from a three-goal deficit

I think we took over right from the second period and had some really good chances, and, you know, all lines played well. We got it on their D and made it simple and, you know, got earned with some goals. And unfortunately, we couldn’t get two points tonight. But I mean, I think it was a good fight back from the team. And we got to take that with us for sure.

Kempe on being more successful on the power play

We wanted to move the puck a lot faster. And yesterday, you know, wasn’t good enough. And I take big responsibility for that as well. But I mean, I think tonight we, you know, moved it around the lot better. And, obviously, got earned with two goals. I mean, those are good things for us. And, you know, we got to have that expectation of ourselves every night. So I mean, gotta keep that going.

Kempe on making a statement to McLellan’s comment about him only having one goal in 14 games

Yeah, I mean, obviously, as I said that from the last couple of games, [I] haven’t really shot the puck enough I don’t think. And, you know, [just] try to be more a little bit more on the net. But I mean, I think still I create a lot of chances. And, you know, and I was looking to, to get in and around the net a little bit more and shoot a lot more pucks and, yeah, obviously, it was a step in the right direction for myself.

McLellan on how his team responded from a three-goal deficit

Oh, yeah, of course, we were disappointed we got into that hole again. But the team stuck with it and clawed their way back in right to the last seconds. So it’s a good sign for our group. It’s not a good sign that we’re falling behind right now. We’ve got some things ahead of us that we have to work on, and [I’m] looking forward to some of the practice time that is upcoming because we haven’t had a lot of it on the road. But in any case, we probably earned a point tonight and lost two, so [we] got what we likely deserved.

LA Kings Schedule

With a few days off between games, the Kings will travel back home and host the Coyotes on Wednesday evening.

Be sure to check out our podcast, recapping Saturday’s game!