Yakov Trenin shows scoring touch Wild have awaited since he arrived via free agency

LOS ANGELES – Yakov Trenin needed 26 games to post his first goal with the Wild.

But his second arrived via next-day delivery.

After shedding his drought in the 5-1 rout at Anaheim on Friday night with a shorthanded tally into an empty net, Trenin capitalized again Saturday during the Wild’s 4-1 loss to Los Angeles, finally showcasing the depth scoring he was expected to add to the team as its prized free-agent pickup.

“It didn’t go in for him early, but I think the goal that he scored [Saturday], to be honest he’s probably had six or seven opportunities like that,” coach John Hynes said. “They bounce the wrong way. This one bounced right on his tape, and he gets to those areas.

“That’s kind of the style of goals that he scores, and it’s good to see him feeling it a little bit.”

While the Wild were in desperation mode against the Kings, a carom off the end boards sailed right to Trenin for a one-timer with 1 minute, 13 seconds to go in the third period.

The finish didn’t rescue the Wild — a second Trevor Moore empty-netter only eight seconds later dashed their too-little, too-late rally — but the play continued Trenin’s momentum after his breakthrough goal a night earlier.

He scooped up a turnover and sunk a 110-foot shot into an empty net while on the penalty kill for his first goal since March 30 when he was with Colorado, the sequence igniting a boisterous celebration on the Wild bench.

“It took the empty-netter, but he worked so hard for the team,” Hynes said. “The players recognized that, and he hasn’t been rewarded. So, it’s nice to get the monkey off his back.”

Once their win was finalized and they were in the locker room, Kirill Kaprizov awarded Trenin the team’s postgame hardware — calling Trenin a “Russian machine” before handing off the chain the Wild pass around after each victory.

“It’s first goal for him,” Kaprizov said. “It’s always exciting. It’s nice it happens. It’s hard when you don’t score in how many games, 25, and then you score. It should be a big deal.”

The reception from his teammates resonated with Trenin, who noticed everyone was happy to give him a fist bump.

“It’s so special,” he said.

That Trenin’s first goal was shorthanded was fitting.

Although his offense has been limited — Trenin had only one assist before scoring — the winger has lived up to his reputation as a defensive specialist. He’s been on the ice for six of the 17 power-play goals the Wild have given up, and his 1.32 goals-against per 60 minutes at even strength ranks among the lowest in the NHL among forwards (Natural Stat Trick). He’s also dished out 73 hits, second-most on the team.

Those are the contributions he was hyped for when the Wild made Trenin, 27, their only one-way signing last July 1, bringing him in on a four-year, $14 million contract after he previously played for Hynes in Nashville, where Trenin started his NHL career.

But he also had a history of producing, a tool in his repertoire that debuted when the Wild had a need for others to step up while Joel Eriksson Ek, Jakub Lauko and Mats Zuccarello are sidelined with injuries.

“Everyone’s pulling for him,” Zach Bogosian said. “He continued to keep playing hard, competing, being a good teammate, all the little things that good teammates do. We were obviously super happy for him [Friday] night. Probably longer than he would have liked, but he still does a lot of other little things on the ice that have a huge impact on the team.”