RECAP: Dubnyk stops 31 shots as Wild beat Kings 4-1

By foxsports
Published

Nino Niederreiter and Mikko Koivu each scored two goals, and Devan Dubnyk had 31 saves in his 35th straight start with Minnesota to lead the Wild past the L.A. Kings 4-1 on Saturday night.

Niederreiter had a power-play goal with 3:03 left to play and Koivu added an empty netter with 1:22 remaining to seal Minnesota's fifth straight win.

The Wild snapped the Kings' three-game winning streak and are a league-best 26-6-2 since Jan. 15. They have an NHL-leading 49 points in 30 games since the All-Star break.

Dwight King scored his 11th goal of the season for Los Angeles, and Martin Jones made nine saves on 10 shots in relief of Jonathan Quick, who was pulled after giving up two goals on nine shots in the first period.

A night after starting their five-game home stand with a 4-2 win against Calgary, the Wild started fast with two first-period goals against Quick - who was 6-2-2 with 15 goals against and a .942 save percentage in his previous last 10 games.

All alone in front of the net, Niederreiter's first goal came on a pretty backhander that went just underneath Quick's glove at 3:15. Then, at 13:39, a streaking Koivu put another backhander past Quick for his 13th goal to make it 2-0.

Kings coach Darryl Sutter sent Jones to the net to open the second period. But the second-year goalie didn't see that much action because L.A.'s offense dominated the period, outshooting Minnesota 17-5 and even getting a brief 20-second 5-on-3 power play.

Still, L.A. only managed one goal against Dubnyk in the period when King's one-timer at the 3:20 mark made it 2-1.

NOTES: Jonas Brodin made an impressive stick save on what surely would've been the tying goal during L.A.'s brief 5-on-3 advantage in the second. Tyler Toffoli had a wide-open look from the left side of the net before Brodin poked the puck away. . The Kings had earned points in seven consecutive games. . Koivu set a Wild franchise record with his 115th-career multipoint game, moving past current Kings F Marian Gaborik. . Wild C Ryan Carter returned from a 23-game absence due to an upper-body injury.