Wild vs. Kings: A chance to bounce back with Kevin Fiala back in Minnesota

First question for the Minnesota Wild.

What the hell was that on Thursday?

The Wild looked to still be in preseason mode in a 7-3 loss to the New York Rangers in the home and season opener at the Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesota will look to bounce back on Saturday night in a matchup against a winless Kings squad that features a  certain former and popular Wild forward.

“It would be nice to actually play today just to get back at it,” Wild coach Dean Evason said during a media availability on Friday. “We use (the Rangers game) as a positive thing today that it’s a real quick adjustment of how we want to play and how we don’t want to play. We don’t want to play like that, that’s for sure.

“Our defensive game was absolutely horrendous, which I mentioned (Thursday) night,” Evason said. “The defensive play was very uncharacteristic of who we are and how we play. I know New York is a real good hockey club — a great hockey club, but they weren’t that good as far as the opportunities and the goals that they got with just their skill set. It was a lot of what we didn’t do.”

The Kings start has not been much better. Los Angeles has been outscored 8-4 in losses to Vegas and Seattle.

Kevin Fiala, who the Wild traded to the Kings this offseason, makes a return to Minnesota, where he spent a little over three full seasons. The 26-year-old did not register a point in either game and has a plus/minus rating of -3 for the season. He has four shots on net and two penalty minutes.

He finished with 33 goals and 85 points for the Wild last season and in a Q&A with Tom Gulitti that was posted on NHL.com after the trade, Fiala touched on how tough it was to leave Minnesota.

Fiala said.

“Yeah, very tough. Like you said, we built something. When I got there (in 2019), we didn’t make the playoffs, so the next year was better and better and better. And also in the locker room itself, I feel like we built something great there and it was like a big family. So it’s kind of [stinks] in this way to leave something that I was a part of building. But in the other way, I couldn’t be happier to be with the Los Angeles Kings and I can’t wait to start.”

Minnesota went 2-1 against the Kings last season, including a 6-3 win in St. Paul on April 10. The Wild have a 22-9-8 mark against Los Angeles in the Xcel Energy Center in the series all-time.

The Wild continue a four-game homestand to open the season Monday against Colorado.