Takeaways: Wild rally for point but lose 5-4 in shootout to Kings

LOS ANGELES – The Wild had a response to every Kings goal except the last.

After the Wild rallied four times, Los Angeles finally shrugged them off for good 5-4 in a shootout on Saturday, Jan. 3, at Crypto.com Arena to drop the Wild to 3-0-2 on their season-long, seven-game road trip.

“I liked our competitiveness,” coach John Hynes said. “I liked the resilience that we battled back, but I think we can put together a little better game next time we play them.”

Adrian Kempe and Brandt Clarke capitalized in the four-round shootout after the Wild killed off a 4-on-3 power play to close out overtime.

Jake Middleton, Joel Eriksson Ek, Brock Faber and Matt Boldy delivered the tying goals, all within 5 minutes of Los Angeles scoring; the Wild responded 2:20, 1:26, 2:39 and 4:54 later.

Middleton netted his first of the season. Eriksson Ek buried a stretch pass from Quinn Hughes on the power play. Faber polished off a nifty passing play between Kirill Kaprizov and Danila Yurov and then had his shot clip former Wild forward Kevin Fiala and deflect in off Boldy for Boldy’s team-leading 26th goal; he ranks second in the NHL behind only Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (35).

“Kind of [hit] my chest [and] rolled down my arm,” said Boldy, who also had the Wild’s only shootout goal. “I just tried not to move to make sure it wasn’t me throwing it in the net or anything. So, I’m just glad it went in.”

Jesper Wallstedt had 34 stops, and former Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 24 for Los Angeles.

“Disappointing today,” Wallstedt said. “I felt like we could have won this in regulation. I don’t think I personally gave the team enough of a good chance to take two points. They luckily kept me in the game.”

This was Wallstedt’s first game since he was named to Sweden’s Olympic roster, and a future teammate in Kempe was the first to elude Wallstedt.

After Anze Kopitar poked the puck off Hughes, Kopitar set up a wide-open Kempe for a back-post one-timer 6:08 into the first period.

The Wild retaliated by 8:28 when Mats Zuccarello corralled a Zach Bogosian rebound and backhanded it to a pinching Middleton for his first goal in 47 games; Middleton’s last was March 15 vs. St. Louis.

In the second, both teams had looks on breakaways.

After Kaprizov’s try hit the crossbar, Wallstedt denied Andrei Kuzmenko, but Faber committed a hooking penalty in the aftermath and the Kings took advantage when Quinton Byfield banked in a shot off Corey Perry at 16:57.

Barely a minute later, Byfield was penalized for holding, and the Wild answered back, this time when Hughes’ stretch pass caught Eriksson Ek in stride for a rising shot past Kuemper. The Wild went 1-for-4 on the power play, while Los Angeles went 1-for-3.

This script carried over to the third: Byfield’s shot caromed off the end boards and into the crease, where the puck deflected in off the Wild 4:54 into the period.

“That’s a weird goal,” Boldy said. “There’s nothing you can do. Crazy bounce.”

Kaprizov moved the puck ahead to Yurov, who threw a pass across the zone to a net-crashing Faber for the redirect at 7:33.

Like clockwork, the Kings capitalized next, at 12:09, when Fiala found Samuel Helenius skating alone across the zone.

“My pickup and my read on that play was he was going to shoot high,” Wallstedt said. “The ice was terrible, so maybe that had something to do with him going low instead. Obviously, I should seal my five-hole, but that was my read on it.

“Obviously a goal I’d like to have back.”

But the Wild reacted as expected.

In overtime, the Wild failed to score on a lengthy shift for Boldy, Kaprizov and Hughes, and Kuemper denied Faber on a 2-on-1 with Eriksson Ek.

Seconds later, Faber was whistled for a high stick on Fiala. Los Angeles didn’t convert on the opportunity, but the Kings were sharper in the shootout: Fiala and Kopitar missed, but the Wild blanked on tries from Zuccarello, Kaprizov and Vladimir Tarasenko.

“It wasn’t our best,” Faber said. “It wasn’t our worst, and we’ll take the point.”

BOX SCORE: Los Angeles 5, Wild 4 (SO)

NHL standings

Considering the circumstances, the Wild earning a point on the second night of a back-to-back against a rested team is encouraging.

That they did so after coming from behind four times is downright impressive.

But the Wild can certainly be better, especially when it comes to how many dangerous chances Los Angeles had.

“I didn’t think it was goaltending,” Hynes said. “I feel like they came heavy. I thought that we gave up a little bit too much, to be honest with you, some high quality looks that usually we don’t give up.”

The Wild are staying put for another game against the Kings on Monday, Jan. 5, their third game in the Los Angeles area in four days.