Six players score for Wild in win

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Six players scored for the Minnesota Wild in a 6-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.
Los Angeles (0-3-0) has lost three in a row to start the season. Minnesota (2-1-0) won its second straight.

"There's a lot of factors to the 0-3 start," Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. "We just have to be better. That's the bottom line. … We're just not playing good enough hockey now. We're going to have to come back to work and clean it up. Giving up four and six goals, that's just not going to cut it. You don't have to be a scientist to figure it out. Cut that down and go from there."

Kings forward Tanner Pearson scored 50 seconds into the first period to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. Minnesota answered at 1:36, when Nino Niederreiter poked the puck to Erik Haula, who sped up left wing for the tying goal. Jason Pominville scored for Minnesota at 19:48 for a 2-1 lead.
"[The Kings] must've been pretty frustrated after the first period, I think," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They hit four posts and they go in losing in a period they should've won. Like I told the players, not every game can be a Picasso. We found a way. We weren't great tonight, but we found a way to win. The bottom line is, this league is really tough to win games, and so when we can win games whatever the way they are, however we do it, it's a win."
The Wild scored three goals in 4:30 of the second period. Charlie Coyle scored on the power play at 12:38 to make it 3-1, Mikko Koivu made it 4-1 at 16:11, and Teemu Pulkkinen gave Minnesota a 5-1 lead at 17:08.
Dwight King scored for the Kings on a rebound at 6:42 of the third, and Pearson scored his second of the game at 14:35 to make it 5-3. Minnesota's Jared Spurgeon scored into an empty net with 2:18 left.

Goal of the game

Haula sailed a pass to Pominville, who broke down left wing for a snap shot over goalie Jeff Zatkoff's shoulder with 12 seconds left in the first period. The goal was Pominville's first of the season. He went 21 games before he scored his first goal last season (Nov. 28).
"Yeah, it feels better than it did last year for sure," Pominville said. "It was a good game; we obviously didn't get the start we wanted, but we made our push and gave ourselves enough of a cushion where they made their push in the third and we kept our composure. We never panicked, and that's usually a sign of a good team. We stuck with it and found a way [to win]."

Save of the game

Haula had his second breakaway at 7:50 of the first period. Stickhandling from his forehand to his backhand, Zatkoff made a glove save to keep it 1-1.

Unsung moment of the game

Minnesota blocked 25 shots; Los Angeles had four.
"That's winning hockey, and it starts with guys like Zach [Parise]," Haula said. "Everyone's doing a great job, and that's how you win games."

Highlight of the game

Minnesota killed a 49-second, 5-on-3 power play that started at 9:21 of the second period. The Wild are 11-for-11 on the penalty kill in three games.
"That was, to me, the turning point of the game," Boudreau said. "That 5-on-3 was huge. We were up 2-1 at the time and I think we scored two or three minutes after that to make it 3-1. It was pretty deflating probably on their bench going, 'What do we have to do? We hit the post. We have 5-on-3s. We have good looks.'"

They said it

"I said it when (goalie) Jonathan [Quick] got hurt. There's not one thing I can do about it or anyone can do about it. I expect the guys who are in there to play as well as they can, and if they play as well as they can, that's good. That's all you can do. That's what you do, right?" -- Kings coach Darryl Sutter
"Yeah, I got away with a couple there. The post is a goalie's best friend, and they bailed me out a little bit early. After the first, I felt my game got a lot better and I started to feel more comfortable, more up to the game speed. Luckily I got bailed out a little bit early." --Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper

Need to know

Coyle extended his point streak to three games.

What's next

Wild: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, TSN4, NHL.TV)
Kings: At the Dallas Stars on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, FS-W, NHL.TV)