Kuzmenko has 2 points, Kings hold off Wild

LOS ANGELES -- Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and an assist for the Los Angeles Kings in a 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Crypto.com Arena on Monday.

Warren Foegele, Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings (18-14-9), who swept the two-game set against the Wild following a 5-4 shootout win here on Saturday. Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves, and Brian Dumoulin had two assists.

“Played well the game before, played well for 56 minutes against Tampa (a 5-3 loss on Thursday), so starting to get a little traction,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said.

Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar did not return after sustaining a lower-body injury in the first period, and forward Joel Armia left with an upper-body injury following a collision with Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes midway through the second period.

Kopitar walked out of the Kings’ locker room after the game without an apparent limp. He was also not using crutches or in a walking boot.

Hiller said the team would know more about the status of Kopitar and Armia on Tuesday.

“Don’t have a lot to report tonight,” he said.

Jared Spurgeon had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Hartman scored for the Wild (25-11-8), who had their six-game point streak end (3-0-3). Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves.

“I liked our first. I thought the third period, we made a good push. Second period we got outplayed, and to me, that was the story of the game,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said.

Foegele put Los Angeles up 1-0 at 15:34 of the second period, scoring with a one-timer from the blue line set up by Dumoulin.

Fiala made it 2-0 at 17:52. He left a drop pass for Kuzmenko at the blue line and skated to the left post, where he outmuscled Matt Kiersted and tapped a return pass into the open net.

“Since they’ve been together they’ve been our most dangerous offensive line, as you mentioned. Just maybe haven’t hit the back of the net as often,” Hiller said of Fiala, Kuzmenko and center Alex Turcotte. “[Kuzmenko] and Kevin are really creative. ... They’re two really creative offensive players, but they’ve been pretty magical together. They look for each other a little bit. And, as I mentioned, [Turcotte] does the dirty work and ends up at the net and creates some space for them. So, nice to see.

“Been well-documented we haven’t scored enough, so it looks like we’re going to get some consistent scoring from that line.”

Spurgeon cut it to 2-1 at 5:55 of the third period when his one-timer from above the left circle redirected off Foegele’s stick and went in over Kuemper’s glove.

Kuzmenko responded with an individual effort for the Kings to make it 3-1 at 9:20. After holding onto the puck along the left boards, Kuzmenko cut around Danila Yurov, skated across the crease and tucked a shot past Gustavsson's left pad.

“He’s got such quick hands and can cut back so fast, like he did on that goal, and it’s awesome to see him get going like that,” Kuemper said. “He was a real difference-maker tonight.”

Wild forward Marcus Johansson left the game after sustaining a cut to his face at 13:03, which resulted in a double minor for high-sticking on Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson.

Hartman cut it to 3-2 during the ensuing power play at 15:21, chipping in Spurgeon’s centering pass.

“You know what, I know we’re going to look at [the power play], it went 1-for-6," Hynes said. "We definitely need to generate more, but I will say we scored one, (Joel Eriksson Ek) hits the post, we had a couple other looks. But when you have that many, you either have to score or generate more than we did.”

Kempe scored an empty-net goal at 18:21 for the 4-2 final.

NOTES: Fiala has five points (two goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak. ... Wild defenseman Brock Faber had an assist for his 100th NHL point (27 goals, 73 assists). He is the third-fastest defenseman to reach the mark (206 games) in Wild history, behind Ryan Suter (172 games) and Marek Zidlicky (175).