Takeaways: No more comebacks for Wild this time in 4-2 loss to Kings

LOS ANGELES – The Wild ran out of rallies.

After coming from behind four times two nights earlier against the Kings, the Wild sputtered 4-2 on Monday, Jan. 5, at Crypto.com Arena to also drop the rematch.

“You can’t play from behind every game, especially against a team like that,” Nico Sturm said. “They’re obviously really good defensively and when you have to chase the game and you have to score goals, it’s tough because it kind of plays right into the style that they play.”

Los Angeles scored twice in 2 minutes, 18 seconds late in the second, a takeover that had been building all period.

Warren Foegele had the icebreaker, draining a point shot, before former Wild forward Kevin Fiala crashed the net to redirect in an Andrei Kuzmenko pass.

But Kuzmenko’s goal in the third period was the difference after the Wild netted two but not three to fall short in their bid to catch up yet again.

Adrian Kempe added an empty-netter.

“We have a couple chances,” Kirill Kaprizov said, “and just don’t score.”

Captain Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Hartman had the Wild’s too-little, too-late goals, the latter coming on a four-minute power play after Marcus Johansson was cut by a high stick.

“He was getting stitches,” coach John Hynes said. “I knew he wasn’t coming back, but I think he’s OK.”

The Kings hung on despite finishing the game shorthanded. Captain Anze Kopitar departed hurt in what could be his final game against the Wild. The career King, who is retiring after the season, had 61 points in 70 career games vs. the Wild.

Joel Armia also exited early injured.

“It was a tough game,” Gustavsson said. “They had a lot of chances, and we’ve been scoring a lot lately, and today we couldn’t outscore them.”

The Wild had a chance to take control on three power plays, including two in the second, but they whiffed on every opportunity.

Their fourth line of Marcus Foligno, Nico Sturm and Yakov Trenin generated the Wild’s most consistent pressure.

“We’re all heavy. We’re all big,” Sturm said. “Once the puck’s kind of below the goal line, that’s when we flourish with the style of heavy game that we play.”

Gustavsson was locked in: He fended off a 2-on-0 shot by Kempe, stopped Foegele after he broke free and then also gloved the attempt at the rebound by former Minnesota Duluth defenseman Mikey Anderson.

The Wild rallied four times before losing 5-4 in a shootout to the Kings on the weekend, but in that game, the Wild’s deficit was never more than a goal.

That wasn’t the case in the second game.

With 2:08 left in the second, Kuzmenko fed Fiala for a tap-in at the back post.

“In the second we just had some shifts that we got caught in our zone,” Spurgeon said. “That really took away from the rhythm of the game that we usually play with.”

After the Wild killed off Los Angeles’ only power play to start the third, Spurgeon tried to start a comeback with a point shot 5:55 into the period; Sturm’s assist on the play was his 100th career point.

“I just feel that’s one of my better strengths as a goalie,” he said. “I missed my post there on the far one, and the puck rides up my skate there. Maybe it’s still too fast to go around me there. But something to look at, and I want to be the best at that.”

Los Angeles scored another, but it was called back because the puck was kicked in by Quinton Byfield.

A high stick by Anderson on Johansson resulted in a four-minute power play for the Wild, and it was the second unit that cashed in with 4:39 to go on Hartman’s first goal in seven games. Brock Faber’s assist was also his 100th career point, and he’s the fastest defenseman in Wild history to reach 100 (206 games) after debuting with the team.

But a breakaway for Kempe into an empty net with 1:39 remaining prevented the Wild from moving closer.

“They were very good, very effective at boxing out,” Sturm said. “It’s not easy to get to the net and set screens and tips like that. They also close pretty quick in the corners. We didn’t have that hard of time in other games I felt like.”

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The power play went 1-for-6.

“We definitely need to generate more,” Hynes said. “But I will say we scored one. [Joel Eriksson Ek] hits the post. We had a couple other looks. I thought [Kuemper] did a really good job at the net. There wasn’t a lot of rebounds, and he ate some pucks there.

“It was a big factor in the game of why we didn’t win it, but I will say that we did have some looks. But when you have that many, you either have to score or generate more than we did.”

The Wild not recovering after they were so resilient in their previous game against the Kings was odd.

Faber, however, did suit up despite not participating in the team’s morning skate.

But the last week-plus on the road has become a mixed bag with just as many wins as losses including shootouts.

How successful of a trip this is hinges on the Wild’s next performance.