Nothing boring about season-ending trip as Wild learns first-round foe

LOS ANGELES -- For a relatively meaningless game for the Wild at the Staples Center on Thursday night, there was plenty to unpack from a 5-4 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Minnesota is locked into third place in the Central Division. Its opponent in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was decided 2,700 miles away in Washington, D.C. earlier in the night when the Nashville Predators wrapped up the division, the conference and the President's Trophy with a 4-3 win over the Capitals.
Nothing the Wild did against the Kings had any bearing on what happens next week when it opens the postseason at Bell MTS Place against the Winnipeg Jets.

Yet there was Eric Staal, scoring his 41st goal of the season to pull Minnesota within a goal 5:42 into in the third period.

There was Nate Prosser scoring a short-handed goal less than four minutes after that to pull Minnesota even, and eventually earn the Wild its 99th point of the season.

There was Mikko Koivu dishing out three assists, and Matt Dumba chipping in a goal and an assist, and Mikael Granlund tallying a pair of helpers.

There was Ryan Murphy scoring his second goal of the season, and Nick Seeler and Daniel Winnik finding the scoresheet, and the Wild killing off an extended 5-on-3 power play in the third period to keep the game tied.

For a game that meant nothing in the standings, it certainly seemed like it had plenty of meaning for those on the ice.
"There's a lot of good you can take from this game," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "I think, other than the second period, I thought we played really good. And you battled back against a team that's the best third-period team in the league. There's a lot of good things and we were getting the raw end of the deal at every turn. They stayed with the program, and consequently got rewarded for it a little bit."
The raw end Boudreau was referring to was a 6-1 advantage in the number of power plays for the home team. Los Angeles capitalized on one of those six -- a 5-on-3 goal by Dustin Brown in the first period -- but for the most part, the Wild's penalty kill was a net positive.
It even drew even when Prosser wiggled through a handful of Kings players and fired a no-look shot through Jonathan Quick just shy of the midway point of the third period, tying the game at 4.

"Kind of surprised myself a little bit," Prosser admitted. "Our two [defensemen] changed, I was able to jump on the ice and I saw Mikko kind of curl up, so I saw an opportunity to jump up in the play. I thought it was a good time to do it. I was able to sneak one by him."
Jumping into the play is typically not something the defensively-sound Prosser does. Definitely not in a one-goal game and certainly not while short-handed.
In 337 career NHL games, it was Prosser's first shorty. It was also his 10th career goal in the League and his third of the season, a new career high.
Of course, with Ryan Suter out for the season and Jared Spurgeon out until next week's Game 1 in Winnipeg -- at the earliest -- it's been up to just about everyone to help pick up the slack.

"That's 100 points between the two defensemen, almost," Boudreau said. "We gave them a little bit of a slap on the wrist last night, some of the defense, and I thought they played much better today."
Meanwhile, Staal's goal, which came on an extended delayed penalty on the Kings, leaves him one shy of Marian Gaborik's decade-old team record of 42 with one game remaining in the regular season.
With 41-year-old veteran Matt Cullen out of the lineup getting some rest on Thursday, it was likely going to be Staal's turn to get a breather in San Jose on Saturday. The All-Star centerman has played in all 81 games this season after playing in all 82 last year and in 83 the season before that.
While his status for Saturday won't be decided for certain until Friday, Staal made clear he'd like a chance at some history.
"I mean, it's up to the coaches - Watch: Wild falls to Kings in overtime