Kings Vs. Wild: L.A. Turns On Offense Again In 4-0 Win Against Minnesota

After dropping four goals on the Chicago Blackhawks, the Los Angeles Kings went back to their offensively-struggling ways against the Nashville Predators. The following day, L.A. got back to scoring again, winning, 4-0, against the Minnesota Wild with just 15 shots. The win pulls L.A. to 70 points, tied with the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, who are ahead, also with 70 points.

Just 44 seconds into the match, the Kings appeared to have scored, as Justin Williams redirected Slava Voyonov's shot so that it bounced its way past Niklas Backstrom. After further review, it was officially on the board and the Kings had the early 1-0 lead on the Wild with credit to Williams. At the 9:39 mark of the first, a Dwight King tip-in from Anze Kopitar's shot also went in for the 2-0 lead.

It's usually fair to assume L.A. would be done after two goals, but with 22 seconds left, Anze Kopitar entered the zone with Dustin Brown, trailed by all five Minnesota skaters. Somehow, all the Wild, including Backstrom, collectively turned their attention to Brown after Kopitar passed to him. After a quick feed from Brown, the forgotten Kopitar banked in on the empty net to snap a nine-game goalless drought. Kopitar's goal was the eighth goal out of 11 that Brown had a hand in, and second of the night.

Apparently, the Kings still weren't done, as they continued to take advantage of the fact that Minnesota was incapable of clearing the puck out of their own end and more net presence worked in their favor again, this time thanks to Jordan Nolan.

Coming into the game, the Kings scored a league-worst 2.06 goals per game, with the Wild bringing up the second-least average at 2.14 goals per game. However, defensively, L.A. is third in the league at goals allowed, and that showed, thanks to Jonathan Bernier held the Wild's early chances to no avail and stopped all 26 shots.