In Los Angles Saturday, the Minnesota Wild rallied to the tie the Kings late in regulation but Tanner Pearson rescued LA with a goal in overtime to give the Kings a 4-3 win.
“He’s been putting the puck in the net for us, and these days we need that,” Los Angeles forward Jeff Carter said. “He’s a really good skater and he can kind of get a jump on guys and find that open ice. Usually when he gets the chance he can put them in.”
With the Wild on the power play, Zach Parise scored with just 43 seconds left in the third to send the game to extra time.
Darcy Kuemper was pulled form his net to send a sixth skater into the offensive zone.
“When they got the lead in the last five or six minutes, when it was a desperate time, we went after them again,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It’s not consistent and that’s what we have to do.”
Mikko Koivu and Charlie Coyle scored for the Wild in the first period.
WATCH: All Kings vs. Wild highlights
Jeff Carter got back to scoring for LA and Jake Muzzin and Marian Gaborik had markers in regulation.
“We’re a good team when we play the right way, and when we don’t, we’re not that good,” Muzzin said. “We got our act together in between periods and we came out with the right attitude in the second, and it showed.”
Peter Budaj made 21 saves to get the win.
“We came out flat. Turnover, first goal. Face off, turnover, second goal. Both of those goals are on us. We knew we didn’t play the way we were supposed to in the first, and I give our guys credit. We came and regrouped and played a really solid [last 45 minutes],” Carter said of the early effort in the game.
Kuemper made 32 saves in the loss for the Wild who fell to 24-9-5.
LA improved to 20-16-4 with the win.
“The puck was bouncing on the wall a lot, and that’s where they are probably one of the better teams around the League is on the wall,” Parise said of the Staples Center boards. “If you are not getting those pucks against these guys, it makes for a long night. After they got that first one, it felt like we had a lot of trouble getting anything clean or forechecking hard. We couldn’t get much going.”
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