In Los Angeles, the Minnesota Wild got a much-needed boost from Darcy Kuemper who made 32 saves to backstop the Wild to a 3-0 win over the Kings Thursday.
“We were due in a lot of areas, and I think our game had been a lot better the last couple of games. We just weren’t really getting the results,” Kuemper said. “We get that early power-play goal … it was kind of a breath of fresh air for everyone and a bit of a relief. You could see us get to our game after that.”
Zach Parise, Charlie Coyle and Erik Haula scored for the Wild who were in a tail-spin heading into Thursday’s game.
“I think we really needed it for our own psyche,” Parise said. “It’s been getting tough for us lately – losing a lot of games and not producing on offense. It’s been really tough and frustrating.”
The win snapped a five-game skid for Minnesota.
“That was just a very poor effort,” forward Tyler Toffoli said. “I think we really weren’t prepared to play and it showed. We had our chances to score and we didn’t bear down.”
Jonathan Quick took the loss on 25 saves.
Jarret Stoll made his return to Staples Center and was greeted with a standing ovation.
“It was great, it was awesome,” Stoll said. “Obviously chills everywhere throughout your body and I wanted it to end as quickly as possible … I would’ve got emotional or started to maybe, but just looked at [Trevor Lewis] in the faceoff and said, ‘Let’s go.'”
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