Mike Yeo sees glass half full after Wild's OT loss to Kings

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. – With points in four consecutive games to start the season, it was way too early for Mike Yeo to lambaste his team for two periods of sluggish play Friday night.

So the Wild coach predictably took the glass half full side after the Wild rallied for a point in an eventual 2-1 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings. He talked about how encouraged he was by backup goalie Darcy Kuemper's outstanding play and the fact that the Wild mustered the energy to dominate the third period.

"Back-to-back games, we knew what we were going to face," Yeo said of the Kings. "Winless team. It's not like they're a team that you'd expect to be winless at this point, so we knew we were coming into a hornet's nest. We definitely weren't on top of it, but very proud and very pleased with way we responded in the third period."

Anze Kopitar scored the winning goal in overtime 27 seconds after being crushed along the wall by Matt Dumba and not long after Dumba had three different chances to score in the offensive zone. It was the Wild's first real look at the NHL's new 3-on-3 overtime format in the regular season after having success with it in the preseason.

It featured up and down hockey and proof yet again that a missed chance on one end nearly always results in a scoring chance on the other.

Mikko Koivu scored 5½ minutes into the third period on a power play when he found Zach Parise's rebound a few feet in front of the goalmouth and slid a backhander by Jonathan Quick. The Wild had two more power plays for a chance to take the lead but couldn't get it done.

The story of the game though was Kuemper, who made 35 saves and covered up all night for his tired teammates. Besides the fact the Wild played the night before in Arizona, the team went from cruising to victory to having to hang on desperately in the end due to a parade to the penalty box.

"We saw it. As coaches we saw it, for sure," Yeo said. "I think the guys were feeling it and to me that's the mental toughness that I appreciate right there. We didn't accept being tired in that situation. We dug in, we got to our game in the third period and earned a huge point."

Kuemper went more than three months between starts last season before getting into the Wild's second-to-last game and beating Nashville. After a quality training camp, Kuemper hopes Friday's performance was the start to a rebound season for him.

The Wild does, too, because it wants Kuemper to spell goalie Devan Dubnyk at times this season.