Kings seek rebound at struggling Wild

The Los Angeles Kings continue their four-game road trip against Central Division teams on Saturday night when they face the Minnesota Wild in Saint Paul, Minn.

Los Angeles began the trip with a 3-2 victory at Winnipeg on Tuesday night, with Anze Kopitar scoring the game-winner on a power play early in the third period. The Kings then fell to the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis, 5-2, on Thursday, as the Blues converted 3 of 4 power play chances.

It marked the second time this season that Los Angeles, which had a two-game winning streak snapped, has allowed three power play goals in a contest.

"We were drilled on the penalty kill," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "Our power play wasn't sharp. More importantly for me, it was above and beyond structure (Thursday)."

McLellan made it clear he wasn't happy with his team's toughness in the loss.

"I thought they were just harder," McLellan said. "They stripped pucks. They won battles and small-area games. They were always ahead of us. They got us tired and hemmed in our zone. So, for me a lot of it was the physicality in small areas that we just weren't very good in.

"I expect our guys to be a little bit better. We have some guys that play that type of game that really didn't perform that well."

"I think a little sloppy play cost us tonight," added defenseman Trevor Lewis. "They were good in the offensive zone. They created a lot of turnovers and we weren't sharp enough on the walls, making plays and getting out of our zone. It led to a lot of zone time for them."

Minnesota also had a two-game winning streak snapped on Thursday night with a 4-0 loss at Nashville, falling to 1-6 on the road this season.

"If you look at our schedule, it better change," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said, noting that Minnesota's heads back on the road for six of their next seven games after Saturday's contest. "It's just something we have to change."

That will cap the Wild's season-opening stretch with 13 of 18 games on the road.

Minnesota actually outplayed the Predators in a scoreless first period, outshooting Nashville 13-4, but couldn't get a puck past Pekka Rinne, who picked up his fifth career home shutout against the Wild while making 26 saves.

Miikka Salomaki then gave the Predators a 1-0 lead just 37 seconds into the second period, and Calle Jarnkrok extended the lead to 2-0 with a goal with just 29 seconds left in the period.

"Once they scored the goal, we sort of slumped, and they came on," Boudreau said. "It's a deflator when they score in the first minute and the last minute of the period."

"We had a good start," defenseman Ryan Suter said. "We played a solid first 20 minutes. Once they scored, it was hard to get the momentum back. They were coming. Would have been nice to get one in the first and put them on their heels."

"It definitely didn't feel like a 4-0 game," added defenseman Carson Soucy. "I thought we had our chances early, and I thought we played a pretty good game. That said, they buried their chances. But we're going to come back Saturday and hopefully get some goals early."

Minnesota swept all three games with the Kings last season, winning by a combined margin of 10-4.

--Field Level Media