After three awful losses, the Kings had an all-around strong effort but still needed overtime to record their first victory of the season, 2-1 over the Minnesota Wild in front of 18,230 at Staples Center. The Ducks are winless in their first four games of the season going 0-3-1.
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Kopitar scored on a 25-foot wrist shot in the first overtime game for either team in the new 3-on-3 format. It was a broken coverage and a failure to slow down Mike Richards at the blue line that led to the goal.
The Wild was out-shot 32 to 14 through 40 minutes of hockey.
Between the pipes: Jonathan Quick started for the fourth consecutive game for the Kings. Without breaking stride, Toffoli took the pass and fired a shot past Darcy Keumper for a 1-0 Kings lead. The Wild goaltender stopped 35 shots. Zach Parise’s one-timer deflected off the stick of Kings defenseman Brayden McNabb and into Quick’s pads, but Koivu backhanded the rebound past him. Dustin Brown tried to backhand the puck inside the left post, but Kuemper made a sprawling save with his outstretched right leg. He made an identical save seconds after the ensuing faceoff, as Kopitar tried to convert a rebound of Doughty’s long slap shot. He was the 15th overall selection…. After starting the season with a two-game home stand, Minnesota is playing the second of a three-game road trip through Arizona and California; the Wild are 3-0-0 this season, they’re coming off of a 4-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes Thursday night. He is bound to get back on the right track sooner rather than later, but the turn around may not come Friday against Minnesota, as the Wild have already potted 12 goals in just their first three games of the season.
Injury update: As expected, defenseman Matt Greene didn’t play because of an unspecified injury.
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Minnesota went short-handed four times, played most of the game 5-on-5 as if it were a penalty kill, and was able to kill 3 of the four penalties.
