NHL Highlights: Minnesota Wild V.S Los Angeles King

A very high tempo to start off the NHL game with lots of end-to-end skating with very little whistles. It was the special teams that were the stars of the show for Minnesota as their power-play and penalty kill came up strong to defeat the falling Los Angeles Kings 3-2 last Monday night in St. Paul. Minnesota Wild came out with one goal in mind, play physical. Derek Boogaard and the big bodies were active early in the game trying to send a message early. Along with that high-tempo and physical start comes a lot of sloppy play. Lots of transition hockey with no real room opening up in the neutral zone and no real good offensive chances for either team. Later in the first the Los Angeles Kings started controlling the puck in Minnesota's defensive zone. A pressing forecheck and great puck movement kept the Wild on their heels for a few shifts before Minnesota got some chances of their own.

A big reason for the offensive success is the return of captain Mikko Koivu from a hand injury that kept him out for the last two games. It was up-and-down hockey for for the first period and the game remained scoreless after the opening period. The second period started off just like the first period but an early penalty by Los Angeles's Ryan Smyth sent Minnesota on the power-play. The Wild took advantage as Owen Nolan buried a rebound off Jonathan Quick and Minnesota took a 1-0 lead early in the second. The Wild power-play was near absent in the first part of the season but now its the ninth best the NHL with a 19% success rate. However, the Kings came out storming after the goal by Nolan as desperation mode seem to kick in for Los Angeles and for good reason. The Kings have been falling lately and what seemed to be a locked in team for the playoffs now are a team fighting to stay in.

They came into the game just 2-7-1 in their last 10 and have dropped from 5th spot to seventh spot in the Western Conference standings. After a couple of offsetting penalties Brent Burns makes a beautiful move in a four-on-four situation drove to net and beat Quick upstairs to increase the lead for Minnesota to 2-0. However with another penalty to Nolan Los Angeles had a 5-on-3 for about one minute but the Wild and their penalty kill got the job down keeping the Kings off the score sheet. Minnesota wild had most of the momentum in the second period until a shot from Scott Parse at the blue line was deflected in past goaltender Niklas Backstrom and the Kings cut the lead in half to 2-1. It was a chippy end to the second period but it was a good ending for Minnesota earning two goals and most important a 2-1 lead heading into the 3rd.

It didn't last 90 seconds as Scott Parse for the second time tonight blasted a one timer past Backstrom to tie the game 2-2. It could have gotten worse, as the Wild was tagged twice on the same shift to give the Kings another 5-on-3 advantage this time for a full two minutes. Los Angeles perppered Niklas Backstrom with shot after shot, and the player of the game Greg Zannon, who is already in the top five in shot blocks in the league made a few key blocks on the powerplay to keep the Kings scoreless on the man advantage. Minnesota Wild got a powerplay of thier own and for the second time of the game the Wild take advantage this time from a Martin Havlat slapshot from the left point that beat Quick upstairs to put Minnesota ahead 3-2.

Los Angeles Kings wont go away quietly as they continue to pressure the Minnesota Wild and claw back into the game. The Los Angeles Kings had yet another opportunity on the power play late in the game but the penalty killers stood tall for Minnesota Wild conserving the one-goal lead with three minutes left to play. Los Angeles pulled their goalie with a minute to play and nearly tied it with a one-timer from Drew Doughty that changed direction but was fought off by Backstrom.

With that save Minnesota Wild defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in a hard fought game for both teams.