St. Paul, MN (SportsNetwork.com) – The Los Angeles Kings scored four goals
against Darcy Kuemper in the first period to beat the Minnesota Wild 4-0 on
Wednesday night.
The goals by Mike Richards, Dustin Brown, Tyler Toffoli and Justin Williams
helped the Kings salvage a three-game road trip after two losses.
It was just their second road win of the season (2-4-4) and marked only the
second home loss for the Wild (7-2-0).
Martin Jones made 28 saves for his fifth career shutout and first of the
season.
Kuemper was pulled after giving up the four goals on just 10 shots before
Niklas Backstrom stopped all 12 he faced over the last two periods.
Richards got a piece of Dwight King’s shot from the right side to give the
Kings a 1-0 lead 4:21 into the game.
Minutes later, Kuemper’s stick was knocked into the corner after he dropped it
making a save, but the Kings didn’t get off another shot and the Wild survived
by icing the puck.
Los Angeles then scored three times in a span of 6:37 near the end of the
first period.
Brown got a wrist shot from the left side to squirt through Kuemper at 13:13
and Toffoli kept it himself on a 2-on-1 break and beat the Wild goaltender
with a backhand deke with 1:42 left in the frame.
Williams scored on a wrister from the slot at 19:50 of the period to give the
Kings a 4-0 lead.
Game Notes
Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play … The Kings are home against
Chicago on Saturday … The Wild play in Dallas on Friday.
