Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter scored early goals, and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves, as the Los Angeles Kings ended a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory Tuesday over the visiting Minnesota Wild.
Sean Walker added an empty-net goal in the final minute as the Kings won at the start of a stretch in which they'll play seven of eight games at home after losing all three during a just-concluded trip to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
Matt Dumba scored for the Wild, who went 2-2-0 on a West Coast trip. Minnesota fell to 2-4-1 over its past seven games.
The Kings jumped in front quickly when Kopitar scored his sixth of the season 1:10 into the game. Kopitar won a faceoff in the Wild zone, with Walker taking a shot from near the blue line. Kopitar found the loose puck under Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk and poked it into the net.
The goal gave Kopitar six points in his past six games (two goals, four assists). He also has points in four consecutive games.
The Kings jumped in front 2-0 at 10:56 of the second period after winning another faceoff. Carter won the faceoff before cleaning up a loose puck in front of the goal after a shot from Ben Hutton. It was Carter's fifth of the season in his 998th career game.
Dumba got the Wild within a goal at 15:40 of the second period with a shot from the point that deflected off Hutton and past Quick. It was Dumba's third goal of the season.
Quick was making a start in consecutive games for the first time since Oct 24-26 as he had traded games with backup Jack Campbell following some early-season struggles. Quick passed the 15,000 save mark for his career.
Dubnyk made 32 saves for the Wild, who fell behind 2-0 in all four of their games on a trip to Anaheim, San Jose, Arizona and Los Angeles.
The Kings played without struggling left wing Ilya Kovalchuk, who officially was listed as a healthy scratch amid reports that he will be benched indefinitely, with rumors swirling that he might have played his last game with the team.
-- Field Level Media
