Adrian Kempe and Alex Laferriere scored in the first two periods as the Los Angeles Kings extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.
Trevor Moore added two empty-net goals, and Anze Kopitar recorded an assist in his 1,400th career game. Los Angeles goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves in his 400th career game, helping the Kings earn their second win of the season against the Wild, who are tied for the NHL’s best points total.
Yakov Trenin scored for the Wild, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves. The Wild’s five-game winning streak was snapped on the second night of a back-to-back, and it was their second regulation loss on the road this season.
Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, who led the NHL in points going into the game, had his three-game goal streak and five-game point streak end.
The Kings took a 1-0 lead with 43 seconds left in the first period when Kempe drove to the net. His shot, after a save by Fleury off a Kopitar attempt, deflected off his skate and into the net for his 13th goal of the season.
Kopitar, playing in his 1,400th game, also had an assist, bringing his total to 23 for the season. He is the 43rd player in NHL history to play 1,400 games and one of just four still active.
Los Angeles made it 2-0 at 8:33 in the second period with Laferriere scoring on a power play, firing a shot from the left circle that went just inside the right post for his 12th goal of the season.
Moore made it 3-0 with an empty-net goal at 1:54 left in the third period, just before Trenin scored for the Wild at 1:13 to break Kuemper’s shutout. Moore added another empty-net goal eight seconds later.
The Wild only had three shots on goal in the second period and finished with 23 shots in total, compared to the Kings’ 34.
