Wild break away from Kings in the third period
Quick is unable to stem the tide as Minnesota dominates the final 20 minutes.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Eric Staal scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period, Alex Stalock stopped 30 shots and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Kings 5-1 Saturday night.
Gerald Mayhew, Joel Eriksson Ek, Mikko Koivu and Jared Spurgeon also scored, and Matt Dumba added two assists for Minnesota, which has won three of four after beginning the year 1-6.
Ben Hutton scored the only goal for the Kings, who have lost two in a row. Jonathan Quick made 22 saves.
“It was the fourth goal that hurt us,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “After that, I’m not sure the belief system stayed where it needed to stay.”
With the score tied at 1, Staal took a pass from Jason Zucker at the blue line, skated in alone on Quick's left and beat him over his far shoulder for his third goal of the season at 17:04 of the second.
Minnesota put it away with a three-goal flurry in the third.
The Wild took a 1-0 lead on Mayhew's second goal of the season at 5:50 of the first period. Dumba took a pass at the right point, skated to the top of the faceoff circle and fired a wrist shot that deflected off Mayhew and in.
The Kings evened the score early in the second when Hutton got his first goal with the team. After gaining the zone, Adrian Kempe dropped a pass for Hutton, who beat Stalock on a one-timer from the high slot.
The Wild made it 3-1 in the opening moments of the third period when Quick couldn't control the rebound of Dumba's shot and Eriksson Ek jammed it home.
Five minutes later, Koivu made it 4-1 when he finished an odd-man rush for his first goal of the season. Quick stopped a point-blank shot by Marcus Foligno, but the rebound hopped out into the slot and Koivu chipped it into the net.
Spurgeon’s goal finished the scoring, and the Kings are now 0-6 when trailing after two periods.
“We did pretty good on our breakouts,” Hutton said. “When our forecheck is going, that’s when we’re our strongest. If we get that going tomorrow [in Chicago] we should be fine.”