Starting his second game in as many nights, Martin Jones stopped all 28 Minnesota Wild shots for the shutout. Darcy Kuemper allowed 4 goals on 10 shots in the first frame for the loss.
Good evening Wild fans. A shaky defense and a poor performance by Darcy Kuemper in the first period cost the Minnesota Wild a win. Kyle Brodziak was the only Wild skater without a minus rating.
Marking only the second time the Minnesota Wild were shutout this season, I want to make excuses. I want to say it’s from poor officiating. I want to say the Los Angeles Kings had the better goaltender, but Jones was on his second start in two nights. The Wild even had better chances, outshooting the Kings 28-22.
First Period:
I thought the Wild started out the first period with better chances. Nino Niederreiter got in to an early scrum with UND alumni Matt Greene at the end of the first minute. The 19,026 referees in the stands seemed to disagree with the call since Greene started the scrum and Niederreiter seemed forced to defend himself. Nonetheless, 4-on-4 hockey didn’t go great for the Minnesota Wild, as the Kings managed three shots to the Wild’s one. Thomas Vanek had an absolutely miserable turnover in the neutral zone that negated a 2-on-1 break for the Wild.
Jamie McBain’s interception of a Zach Parise pass during a long Minnesota Wild change put the Kings on the board first. Dwight King, who walked in to the offensive zone unabated, fired a wrister from the right face-off circle that hit the goal post and bounced behind Kuemper. Mike Richards was credited for the goal on a redirect that I didn’t quite see. 1-0 Kings at 04:21 of the first period.
Prolonged zone pressure by the Wild failed to click, thanks to one too many passes. I thought we moved towards a shoot first mentality with the Wild, but i’m wrong a lot. The zone pressure ended with Zach Parise taking a goaltender interference penalty, which the Wild killed. As soon as his penalty expired, Parise and Jason Pominville got robbed by Jones on a 2-on-1 rush.

Eyes On Isles
Jared Spurgeon couldn’t quite keep the puck in the offensive zone at the blue line as it trickled free on to Dustin Brown’s stick. Brown cruised in to the offensive zone and fired an uncomfortably slow wrister from the base of the face-off circle. Kuemper appeared to stop it as he dropped to the butterfly, but it trickled through his pads and in to the goal. 2-0 Kings at 13:13 of the first period.
Kuemper looked completely off his game on that shot. Brown’s release was painfully slow and there was no redirection. I’m not sure what happened, there. This seems somewhat characteristic of Kuemper who’s either lasered in, or off his game.
Tyler Toffoli added another for the Kings after picking Nate Prosser’s pocket. Toffoli joined Marian Gaborik in a 2-on-1 rush and opened up Kuemper like a can. All Toffoli had to do was slip the puck under a sprawling Kuemper’s stick and it’s 3-0 Kings at 18:18 of the first period.
At this point, the crowd was screaming for Darcy Kuemper’s head, but it only got worse. Before the Wild could put another shot on goal, the Kings piled on their fourth and final goal of the night. Once again, the Wild allowed an odd-man rush to walk in to the zone. This time, playoff hero
put a perfectly placed wrister through Kuemper’s 5-hole from the slot. Williams had all day to fire off the shot as
and Prosser looked completely overwhelmed.
4-0 Kings at 19:50 of the first period.
Kuemper had a tough night and would not return to the ice after the first intermission, spending the remainder of the night on the Minnesota Wild’s benched.
Shots after one period: Los Angeles Kings 10, Minnesota Wild 10
Second Period:
The Wild turned up the intensity through the second, outshooting the Kings by a two to one margin.
I thought Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund, and Zach Parise had a great second period. Martin Jones had to scramble twice to stop Parise, including an incredible toe save around the midway point of the period.
The Wild got their first chance on the power play at 09:56 of the second. managing three shots on goal, it never quite clicked. Arguably, I counted 4 uncalled penalties committed by the Kings in the second that should have drawn Wild power plays. The referees seemed to be in “let them play” mode, drawing the ire of the sold out crowd.
Niklas Backstrom, playing in relief of Kuemper, stopped all 5 shots he faced in the second.
Shots through two periods: Los Angeles Kings 15, Minnesota Wild 20
Third Period:
The Wild fared no better in the third.
Mikael Granlund puck handled one too many times on a breakaway and coughed up the puck around the 9 minute mark.
Justin Fontaine, Erik Haula, and Niederreiter all got stuffed on what seemed to be sure chances.
Backstrom played remarkably well, stopping all 7 shots in the third.
None of it mattered as the Kings rolled on to win 4-0 thanks to a strong first period.
Final shots on goal: Los Angeles Kings 22, Minnesota Wild 28
Trembley’s Take:
This entire game came down to the first period. The Wild completely tightened up in the last 40 minutes but never overcame the deficit.
We can’t blame this loss strictly on Kuemper, as the Wild allowed 5 odd-man rushes in the first period alone. It was completely disheartening to see the fans turn on Kuemper. Even though he let in a couple easy goals, he had no coverage up front and it broke him down.
I was underwhelmed by Vanek tonight. He had some miserable turnovers.
Consider this: the Wild had 57 shot attempts to the Kings’ 41. Kyle Brodziak had a Corsi for of 85% Justin Fontaine was at 82%. Only 5 Los Angeles skaters were above 50% in the Corsi for category. The Wild completely outplayed the Kings, without question.
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I can’t help but wonder if the Wild would have started Backstrom.
Now at 12-9-0, the Wild is in 5th place in the Central division. If the playoffs started today, they’d be out.
The Wild take on the Dallas Stars on Friday. I’ll talk to you then. From all of us at Gone Puck Wild, we’d like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.