The LA Kings battled from three goals down to earn a point on the road, though they ultimately fell by a 4-3 final score in the shootout on Monday evening against the Minnesota Wild.
With just under six minutes remaining in the opening period, Minnesota capitalized with a power-play goal as early penalties again hurt the Kings. Wild forward Marcus Johansson had his shot from the slot blocked by the Los Angeles penalty killers, but the puck deflected out to the point, held in by defenseman Jared Spurgeon. Spurgeon drifted into the right-hand circle, waited for a screen to develop and placed his shot into the back of the net for an early 1-0 lead.
The Wild added two more goals, both coming on the pwoer play, to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
First, Minnesota scored a 5-on-3 goal as forward Kirill Kaprizov circled the wagons in the offensive zone, worked his way to the center point and shot through traffic and in, past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, for his third goal of the season. Forward Matt Boldy made it 3-0 Wild as he drove towards the goal line and snuck a shot inside the near post, past Kuemper on the glove side, to put the hosts ahead by three goals through 20 minutes of play, as early penalties again put the Kings in a hole.
After neither team scored in the middle stanza, the Kings were finally able to turn offensive-zone pressure into a goal early in the third period as forward Kevin Fiala cashed in against his former club. After a good shift in the offensive zone, Fiala got on the end of a loose puck and as he was knocked to the ice, he slid it between the legs of Minnesota goaltender Jesper Wallstedt and in for his second goal of the season and a 3-1 game.
Skating on the man advantage, the Kings pulled another goal back as forward Quinton Byfield buried his second goal of the season. On what was one of the best power-play sequences the Kings have had this season, forward Adrian Kempe found Byfield in the slot, stationed as the bumper man on the top unit, and Byfield hammered a one-timer past Wallstedt and in to pull the visitors within a goal.
With Kuemper pulled for the extra attacker, the Kings found a way to tie things up late in the third period in a 6-on-5 situation, earning and point and sending the game into overtime. Forward Anze Kopitar fed Drew Doughty across the blueline for a one timer, that was kept out, but after Quinton Byfield worked it loose in front, Kempe crashed the net and buried the game-tying goal from the slot, his second in as many games, to complete the three-goal comeback and force overtime.
The extra sessionsaw the Kings collect the bulk of the chances, including several looks on an abbreviated 4-on-3 power play, but neither team scored as the game went into a shootout. Neither team scored in the first three rounds before forward Marco Rossi netted the only goal in Round 4 to secure his team the extra point.
