Wild send Kings to sixth straight loss

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.

The Kings (2-7-1) lost their sixth straight game (0-6-0).
Eric Fehr had a goal and an assist, and Devan Dubnyk made 23 saves for Minnesota (5-2-2), which is 4-0-2 at home.
WATCH: [All Kings vs. Wild highlights]
Kyle Clifford scored for Los Angeles.
Fehr's first goal with the Wild made it 1-0 at 15:13 of the first period when Marcus Foligno's cross-ice pass deflected off him as he slid into the right post.

The Wild scored the first goal of the game for the first time since Oct. 6, a 2-1 shootout win against the Vegas Golden Knights.
"It's huge for us," said Fehr, who signed a one-year, $1 million contract with Minnesota on July 1. "It's a tough grind when you're playing from behind the whole time. To score the first goal and come out of the first period with a lead is great because you can see in the dressing room the guys are a little more encouraged by it."
Jonas Brodin made it 2-0 at 14:22 of the second period on a wrist shot from the left circle with Kings goalie Jack Campbell (22 saves) screened.

"It's just tough," Campbell said. "We expect to win here. [The Kings aren't] just any other team where maybe they've been through this before. This is a winning team and we expect to be winners and expect to contend for Stanley Cups. This is real frustrating. We have the leaders in our locker room, whether they have a letter on their jersey or not, they're so many guys in this room that, personally, I look up to.
"Just keep the boots moving and keep working every day. I think that's what everybody is trying to do."
Clifford picked up the puck after a turnover by Nick Seeler and scored from the right face-off circle to pull Los Angeles within 2-1 at 3:39 of the third period.

Mikael Granlund scored a shorthanded empty-net goal with 45 seconds remaining to make it 3-1, and Mikko Koivu scored into an empty net with 24 seconds left for the 4-1 final.
Minnesota killed off three penalties in the final 7:28.
"I thought [the Kings] were a team that didn't have a lot of confidence, which is why I was worried when they made it 2-1 because then they could sit there and my thought was 'Oh, OK, we're right here. Let's go,'" Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "But we were lucky enough to kill three penalties after that, so that was good."

They said it

"Losing in this game is not enjoyable. … At the end of the day, results are two points, [whether] you do good things or don't do good things. I thought the guys played hard tonight but we need more execution in what we're doing. We're in this business to win. And when you don't win, it's not fun." -- Kings coach John Stevens
"I was just telling [my teammates], I said, 'I might call in sick on Saturday so we don't have to do that (pregame celebration) just to get it over with. Hopefully after Saturday it'll be done." -- Wild defenseman Ryan Suter on being recognized for playing his 1,000th NHL game Thursday

Need to know

The Kings have been outscored 29-8 during their losing streak. … Los Angeles last lost six straight Jan. 4-19. ... Granlund extended his point streak to six games (four goals, three assists). … Parise has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in the past seven games. ... Each team went 0-for-4 on the power play.

What's next

Kings: Host the New York Rangers on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Wild: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, ALT, NHL.TV)