This time, a three-goal deficit is too much

LOS ANGELES — It's probably not the best recipe for success anyway, but the Wild discovered Thursday night you can't spot both SoCal teams three-goal leads and expect to win.

Trying to repeat history two days after rallying to beat Anaheim, the Wild was unable to stage a similar comeback on the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center.

The Wild, eventually losing 6-3, tried though.

Trailing 3-0 after one period and 4-1 in the second period, the Wild got second-period power-play goals from Martin Havlat and Nick Schultz and a third-period goal from Kim Johnsson to cut the deficit to 4-3 with 13 1/2 minutes left.

But the Kings, who coughed up a 4-0 lead Tuesday against San Jose before eventually winning, spoiled this comeback as well by getting late goals from Teddy Purcell and Ryan Smyth.

"It's the same type of things we did the other night," veteran Andrew Brunette said. "The decision-making hasn't been great. Down 3-0, we were lucky to come back once. It's tough to do it again."

It was a sour way for the Wild to open this five-game road trip, and maybe this time the Wild will learn its lesson. Teams don't make a habit of rallying from three-goal deficits.

Josh Harding, known as a nervous starting netminder but especially jittery before this start, put forth a less-than-stellar performance, giving up six goals on 29 shots. With the Wild vowing to play Harding more this season, he got the start over No. 1 goalie Niklas Backstrom.

It's surprising he wasn't hooked after the first period.

"It's disappointing. I get an opportunity like that and I put that kind of performance out, it's disappointing," Harding said. "You're a goalie. Stop the puck. It's as easy as that, and I didn't."

The Wild couldn't contain the Smyth-Anze Kopitar-Justin Williams line in the opening 20..

It's hard to blame goalies on deflected shots, but Harding looked to be fighting it even in warmups.

Before you had a chance to blink, the Kings jumped to a 2-0 lead on redirections by Smyth and Williams.

Smyth's beauty of a deflection came 67 seconds in -- after Harding didn't see a Williams shot from way out moments earlier. Harding lucked out on that one because it rang the left post.

But after Harding gave up a juicy rebound on a shoulder-high Jack Johnson shot, Johns- son's clear went right to Rob Scuderi, who flicked a perfect wrister for Smyth to tip.

Later, the Wild couldn't clear the zone again. Havlat, out late on his shift, tried to defend Kopitar, but he got the puck to second-year defenseman Drew Doughty. Williams deflected Doughty's shot for a 2-0 lead.

Wild coach Todd Richards clearly blamed the goal on Havlat, who was benched the next seven minutes.

Asked about Havlat, Richards said, "There were just some guys that weren't ready to show up. The way that the game went, it's about doing the right things. You have to be committed to playing in your own zone, and we had some guys that just weren't ready for that."

On Havlat's first shift back, the Kings scored again. Kopitar blocked Greg Zanon's shot and the Kings quickly countered.

With Petr Sykora trying to backcheck, Smyth was able to center a 2-on-1 feed underneath a diving Brent Burns for an easy Kopitar goal and 3-0 Los Angeles lead.

Havlat and Sykora each played only six shifts in the period, totaling 3 minutes, 7 second and 3:17, respectively.

Havlat, minus-3 in the first, cut the deficit to 3-1 with a power-play goal, his first with the Wild, 6 1/2 minutes into the second. The Wild was finally playing well for a long stretch, holding the Kings to one shot in the first 10 minutes of the period.

But the Kings regained their three-goal lead on Michal Handzus' goal, the eventual winner.

The Wild trimmed the deficit again to two goals on Schultz's first power-play goal since Jan. 17, 2004. Johnsson made it a game, but Purcell scored on a 2-on-1 and Smyth on a power play as the Wild fell to 1-2.