Zuccarello breaks tie in 3rd, Wild slow down Kings

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Mats Zuccarello scored the tiebreaking goal at 15:22 of the third period, and the Minnesota Wild ended the Los Angeles Kings' five-game winning streak with a 3-1 victory at Xcel Energy Center on Monday.

Zuccarello put Minnesota in front 2-1 with a power-play goal from the left circle.

“I think it was huge for all of us,” Zuccarello said. “It’s a big game, especially when you haven't played your best in a stretch here. It was just important for us to get that win and get those points.”

Ryan Hartman had a goal and an assist, and Jared Spurgeon had two assists for Minnesota (38-25-5), which had lost two in a row and four of five (1-3-1). Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves.

The Wild moved four points back of the Colorado Avalanche for third place in the Central Division.

“When you’re fighting as hard as we’re fighting here down the stretch, to be able to get a good win, I just thought tonight we looked more like ourselves,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought we had good energy, we had a great competitive spirit to us. I thought our details were good. Special teams were a big factor in the game, so that helped. And that’s, you know, I said the other night, it was like the earth was falling the other night, and I told you guys, we have to be ready for another game, and we got ourselves back up and running.

“We’re a good hockey team. We’re not going to be great every single night, but tonight, I give the guys a lot of credit for the mentality and the mindset we played with, and that’s what we need to do.”

Adrian Kempe scored for Los Angeles (36-21-9), which had allowed one goal in its previous three games. Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves.

The Kings remained one point behind the Edmonton Oilers, who have played one more game, for second place in the Pacific Division.

“We got a little sloppy in the third period,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “Second period I thought we played really well, a good period, and probably had enough chances to come out with the lead in the third. ... Gustavsson played very well, I thought. I don't know if anybody else saw that. We probably still turned up way too many chances where we had a chance to shoot with traffic. ... So, you know, one of those nights where, when we finally put it there, we didn't get anything. But yeah, it's a winnable game. It's a mistake. It's execution on their side at the end.”

Kempe gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 4:59 of the first period, scoring a power-play goal with a one-timer from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Kevin Fiala.

Wild defenseman Jon Merrill kept it a one-goal game at 12:00 when he lunged with his stick to deny Alex Laferriere's diving shot at an open net.

“A little bit of a breakdown, we were all kind of scrambling,” Merrill said. “We talked about coming into this game and doing whatever it took to get the win, playing desperate, being there for each other. That’s all I was trying to do is be there for [Gustavsson], and got lucky it hit my stick.”

Hartman tied it 1-1 at 1:51 of the second period with a power-play goal. He won a face-off back to Spurgeon and skated to the right hash marks, where he deflected the defenseman's point shot past Kuemper.

After Zuccarello put the Wild ahead, Marcus Johansson scored into an empty net at 19:04 for the 3-1 final.

“I think overall we played a pretty good game,” Kempe said. “I think they did as well. I think it was pretty even throughout the game. Not a ton of chances going back and forth. Both teams played solid defensively. At the end of the day, penalties and PK came up short today. It's been good all year. Tough when you lose in the last minute.”

NOTES: Kings forward Quinton Byfield had his six-game goal streak end. ... Wild forward Marcus Foligno was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. No update was provided postgame. ... Zuccarello became the 12th player to score 100 goals with the Wild.