The Minnesota Wild hosted the Los Angeles Kings on Election Day as they tried to keep their impressive start to the season going. The Wild had a 7-game road trip early in the season but the Kings had a 7-game road trip to start their season.
They won the first game then lost the next 2 games in Overtime then lost the fourth game big in Toronto but they finished the trip with a good 3-2-2 record. They’ve gone 4-1-1 since including a 3-0 shutout at Nashville and it was former Wild G Darcy Kuemper in the net for LA.
2024-25 Minnesota Wild Schedule and Results
8-1-2 (W-L-OTL) (18 points)
2nd in NHL Central Division
2024-25 Los Angeles Kings Schedule and Results
7-3-3 (W-L-OTL) (17 points)
1st in NHL Pacific Division
Both of these teams are off to great starts to the season. The Minnesota Wild has the 3rd best record in the entire NHL but the Los Angeles Kings are 7th so it will be interesting to see how this game goes.
Hopefully, all of you ‘Puckers used your voices and voted today or earlier than today to Bring some Clutter to this election. We call that Political Clutter! Or should it be PolitiClutter? Either way, it’s an important part of life and can change the future of our country.
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Los Angeles Kings
Status Report
The Kings did not conduct a morning skate Tuesday following a 3-0 win at the Nashville Predators on Monday. … Turcotte is unlikely to play after the forward left during the second period Monday following a hit from Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauz
Game Recap
1st Period
The Wild led 9-2 in shots but never had a great scoring chance even though they got a late power play when a lazy pokecheck turned into a tripping penalty as Kings D Joel Edmundson missed the puck and got Wild F Marcus Johansson’s skate instead.
2nd Period
It’s amazing how a rather innocent offensive rush can turn into something when the opposition stares down the puck and doesn’t cover anyone. Wild D Jon Merrill passed the puck up the left boards to Ryan Hartman at the blue line. He stopped to evade the defender coming at him then chipped the puck into the zone around the left half-wall where Freddy Gaudreau kicked it from his left skate to his stick and passed it to D Zach Bogosian and Bogo took a shot that went bar in off the left post for his 1st goal of the season.
12:29 – Goal – Minnesota – Zach Bogosian (1) from Frederick Gaudreau (4) & Ryan Hartman (1)
Los Angeles Kings 0 | 1 Minnesota Wild
About 8 minutes into the 2nd period, Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov had a puck deflect up into his face and he missed the rest of the period as he was getting taken care of in the locker room.
https://twitter.com/LARoyalty1967/status/1853987618964279387
Late in the 2nd period, the Wild made a bad change which made them scramble to get back then the puck deflected off Wild D Zach Bogosian’s skate and right to LA F Warren Foegele. Bogosian fell down because the stick of teammate Marat Khusnutdinov tripped him.
5:30 – Goal – Los Angeles – Warren Foegele (5) from Alex LeFerriere (4) & Quinton Byfield (6)
Los Angeles Kings 1 | 1 Minnesota Wild
Then Minnesota Wild F Marco Rossi got a one-handed hooking penalty* & former Minnesota Wild F Kevin Fiala made them pay when a one-timer off his stick created a rebound into the corner and Wild D Brock Faber left Fiala to get closer to the puck and Fiala got the puck back for another one-timer that hit the back of the net.
*This is why you don’t put your stick up in the midsection or the hands of an opponent. The officials will call anything that affects a player’s ability to play the puck.
https://twitter.com/nhl_goal_bot/status/1853992094399950960
1:05 – Goal – PPG – Los Angeles – Kevin Fiala (7) from Alex LeFerriere (5) & Anze Kopitar (10)
Los Angeles Kings 2 | 1 Minnesota Wild
3rd Period
Minnesota Wild D Jonas Brodin saved a goal early in the 3rd period…
https://twitter.com/SpokedZ/status/1853997967931281623
Unfortunately, the Minnesota Wild weren’t as sharp defensively as they have been for the majority of this season. Wild F Marat Khusnutdinov left his guy to try to get to the puck but he didn’t get to it and allowed Tanner Jeannot to get the puck past him to the guy he left and the Los Angeles Kings lead doubled…
12:21 – Goal – Los Angeles – Trevor Lewis (2) from Andre Lee (2) & Tanner Jeannot (1)
Los Angeles Kings 3 | 1 Minnesota Wild
Los Angeles Kings F Trevor Moore had a break but Wild D Jonas Brodin got to him to make him curl back but he then gave him time & space when he probably should’ve attacked to end the play but he & other Wild players (Spurgeon, Rossi, Zuccarello) starting watching which gave the Kings time & space to set up a shot-pass & tip play between Vladislav Gavrikov & Quinton Byfield that may be the most impossible play to stop for a goaltender.
https://twitter.com/nhl_goal_bot/status/1854004966576324874
5:48 – Goal – Los Angeles – Quinton Byfield (1) from Vladislav Gavrikov (5) & Trevor Moore (5)
Los Angeles Kings 4 | 1 Minnesota Wild
So… down by 3 goals, the Minnesota Wild pulled the goalie then lost a puck battle in the offensive zone even though they had an extra offensive player and the Kings made a pretty easy play to score on the empty net.
https://twitter.com/nhl_goal_bot/status/1854006135679762489
3:46 – Goal – Los Angeles – Trevor Lewis (3) from Phillip Danault (6) & Trevor Moore (6)
Los Angeles Kings 5 | 1 Minnesota Wild
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Final
Los Angeles Kings 5 | 1 Minnesota Wild
Goals
MN:
Zach Bogosian (1)
LAK:
Warren Foegele (5); Kevin Fiala (7)-PPG; Trevor Lewis (2); Quinton Byfield (1); Trevor Lewis (3)
Assists
MN:
Frederick Gaudreau (4), Ryan Hartman (1)
LAK:
Alex Leferriere (4), Quinton Byfield (6); Alex Laferriere (5), Anze Kopitar (10); Andre Lee (2), Tanner Jeannot (1); Vladislav Gavrikov (5), Trevor Moore (5); Phillip Danault (6), Trevor Moore (6)
Goalies
MN:
Filip Gustavsson
23 Saves on 27 Shots; .852 Save %, 2.33 GAA*; 2nd Loss
LAK:
David Rittich
23 Saves on 24 Shots; .958 Save %, 2.77 GAA*; 4th Win
*Goals Against Average
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Game Notes
The bottom line of this game? The Minnesota Wild didn’t play the way they had been playing for the majority of this season. They weren’t aggressive on the forecheck or sharp on the defensive end. Their power play didn’t produce and the penalty kill gave up a goal.
Should Wild fans be worried? Well, they’ve responded well to everything else so far this season so until they don’t respond well, we won’t worry.
It was the 2nd game in a row that Wild F Kirill Kaprizov didn’t score after scoring multiple points in a franchise record 7 straight games and 17 points in those games (6 goals & 11 assists). You know he’s not happy with that so we’ll see how this team plays in their next game.
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Next up:
The Wild head out on a 3-game road trip starting with back-to-back games in San Jose on Thursday at 9:30 pm on FanDuel Sports Network North then Anaheim on Friday night at 9 pm on FanDuel Sports Network North Extra!
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