The Los Angeles Kings waited until the last minute of regulation to get the game-tying goal in St Paul when Dustin Brown tipped a shot to get the game to overtime at 3-3.
Just to keep the excitement level high, LA then posted the win with a goal from Jeff Carter, his second of the game, at 34 seconds left in the extra session.
Jonathan Quick made 24 saves to pick up the win.
The victory pushed the Kings into third place in the Pacific Division with a 40-27-6 record.
“To come back, that’s a huge two points for a team that we’re quite honestly fighting with for position in the [Western] Conference,” Kings head coach John Stevens said. “[The game] had its ebbs and flows for sure, but I thought the guys showed a lot of professionalism in terms of staying with it. [They] knew there was still time on the clock, [they] wanted to play a full 60 minutes and making sure they took advantage of time left on the clock, so credit to the leaders on hockey team in not hanging their heads in that situation.”
Tanner Pearson also scored in regulation for LA.
Joel Eriksson Ek, Eric Staal and Zach Parise scored for the Wild.
“[The Kings are] desperate. They need points, so do we,” Staal said. “But when you have that lead with a minute left, you want to be able to execute and get that job done. Tonight, we didn’t and they got the extra one in overtime.”
Minnesota dropped to 41-24-8 and added a point to their lead over the Colorado Avalanche for third place in the Central Division.
“It was a big win. We probably didn’t have our best effort. We played good at times and played pretty bad at times too. We came out with the win. At this time of year, it doesn’t really matter how you do it. You’ve just got to win,” LA’s Drew Doughty said after the game.
Doughty had three assists on the night.
[WATCH: All Kings vs. Wild highlights]
Devan Dubnyk made 26 saves in the loss.
“Every point you get right now is great. To get into the next category, the 90 points, is really big. Again we had the lead with a minute to go, and then we didn’t do the right things in the overtime. … I’ve got to believe every team we’re playing is fighting for a playoff space, so I’ve got to believe [games are] going to be like [tonight],” Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau said after the OT loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.