Mats Zuccarello’s power-play goal sends Wild past Kings for much-needed 3-1 victory

The stingy Kings and their almost unbeatable goaltender didn’t fare as expected against an ice-cold Wild offense.

After ending Darcy Kuemper’s shutout streak, the Wild kept chipping away for a 3-1 rally over Los Angeles on Monday night at Xcel Energy Center and only their second victory in their past six games.

This was the first time in that six-game span the Wild have scored more than two goals.

“We looked more like ourselves,” Wild coach John Hynes said.

Mats Zuccarello broke a 1-1 tie with 4 minutes, 38 seconds to go in the third period, converting on the power play, and Marcus Johansson added an empty-netter with 56 seconds left to halt the Kings’ five-game win streak.

Kuemper, the one-time Wild netminder and NHL’s reigning first star of the week, finished with 19 saves. The Wild’s Filip Gustavsson, in his fourth straight game, made 28 stops.

“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.”

The Wild were behind early, with a one-timer from Los Angeles’ Adrian Kempe sailing in at 4:59 of the first period on the power play after an iffy slashing penalty against Marco Rossi. Kevin Fiala had the setup, the assist being his 11th point in nine games vs. the Wild since the team traded him to the Kings for Brock Faber and a first-round draft pick the Wild used to select Liam Ohgren.

Los Angeles would have doubled its lead later in the period if not for Wild defenseman Jon Merrill.

“They go up 2-0 there, and it might be a different game,” Zuccarello said.

Merrill made a stick save against Alex Laferriere, intercepting Laferriere’s shot after Gustavsson slid out of position during the second of two stops against Laferriere.

“Got lucky it hit my stick,” Merrill said.

Gustavsson called the play the “best save” of the game.

“A save like that from Johnny brings a lot of energy to the team to keep going and just show that we’re not going to fold easily,” said Gustavsson, who is 3-1-1 in his past five home games with a 1.76 goals-against average and .937 save percentage.

Later in the second period, the Wild earned the equalizer on the power play: Ryan Hartman won the faceoff back to captain Jared Spurgeon before tipping in Spurgeon’s point shot at 1:51. The Wild power play went 2-for-3, while the Kings were 1-for-4.

Hartman’s goal was the first given up by Kuemper, who was coming off back-to-back shutouts, in 176:34.

But Kuemper, who hadn’t surrendered more than one goal in his previous four starts, was airtight the rest of the second.

Mind you, he wasn’t challenged much.

BOXSCORE: Wild 3, Los Angeles 1

NHL standings

Instead, Los Angeles controlled the puck until the Wild upped their pressure in the third. That eventually broke the stalemate, with Zuccarello’s game-winner denying the Kings of a promotion into second place in the Pacific Division. (The Wild are still in the first wild-card position in the Western Conference playoff race, with an eight-point cushion.)

Zuccarello wristed in his 16th goal of the season and 100th with the Wild, while Hartman picked up his second assist of the night on the play for his 300th career point. Spurgeon also had two points after also assisting on Johansson’s empty-netter.

“We just had to stick with it,” Gustavsson said. “We haven’t been the flashiest team throughout the whole year. We’ve had a lot of these tight games, and we just have to stick together and trust each other.”

During this goaltending duel between Gustavsson and Kuemper, the Wild were down another key forward.

Marcus Foligno didn’t play because of an upper-body injury, with Brendan Gaunce subbing in on the fourth line. Their defense stayed the same, but Jonas Brodin continues to skate and is now considered day-to-day. Brodin has missed the past eight games because of a lower-body injury. Forwards Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, who are also recovering from lower-body injuries, are progressing off the ice, Hynes said.

But when adversity has tested the Wild this season, they have repeatedly persevered.

“What we brought tonight is who we are,” Hynes said. “It’s a team that can respond. It bounces back. It sticks together, finds ways to win. Sometimes it’s going to be pretty. Sometimes it’s going to be ugly, but the bottom line is that’s who we’ve been all year long, and it’s not going to stop.”