FINAL – Kings 7, Wild 3 – Gavrikov, Fiala, McLellan

The LA Kings made it 2-of-2 on the road this season, with a 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday evening at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Less than three minutes into the game, off the strongest start the Kings have had to a game this season, forward Carl Grundstrom opened the scoring with his second goal of the season. As defenseman Drew Doughty pinched down the right-hand boards, the puck deflected into the slot for a charging Grundstrom, who snapped his shot past Minnesota netminder Marc-Andre Fleury for the game’s first goal.

Minnesota struck back with two goals in a span of less than two minutes, however, to take a 2-1 lead midway through the first period.

First, a dumped puck took a wonky deflection off a stanchion behind the net and deflected right into the slot, where forward Connor Dewer skated onto it and shot past Kings netminder Cam Talbot to equalize. Just over 90 seconds later, the Wild pulled ahead through forward Kirill Kaprizov, who redirected a one-timer from defenseman Jonas Brodin for his second goal of the season. The Kings challenged for offsides but were unsuccessful, as Minnesota pulled ahead 2-1.

The Kings returned serve through defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who buried his second goal of the season from the slot to tie the game at two. Off a won faceoff by forward Anze Kopitar, Gavrikov cycled down in the offensive zone and got on the end of an Adrian Kempe rebound, whacking the puck past Fleury for a tie game.

Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois turned 2-2 into 4-2 with a pair of goals in the final minute of the first period.

First, Dubois used his strength to shrug off a Minnesota defenseman and kicked the puck off his stick and through the legs of Fleury off the rush for his second goal in as many games, upheld after an official review initiated by the league. Dubois doubled the lead just seconds later, as he collected in the slot from forward Kevin Fiala, delayed onto his forehand and snapped his shot past Fleury, top shelf. The two goals came in a span of just 12 seconds, the third-fastest two goals in franchise history.

The Kings got an insurance goal midway through the third period from forward Trevor Moore, to pull ahead by three goals. Moore shook free from his defender coming off the wall, gathered a loose puck off an Arthur Kaliyev rebound and buried his team-leading fourth goal of the season, his third consecutive game with a goal, for the 5-2 advantage.

With just under six minutes remaining in regulation, the Wild pulled a goal back through forward Joel Eriksson-Ek, making it a 5-3 game. Off a Kings turnover in the defensive zone, Minnesota had a 2-on-1 scenario in the offensive end, with Eriksson-Ek burying a Mats Zuccarello feed for the goal, his fourth of the season.

The Kings picked up a pair of empty-net goals – from Adrian Kempe and Blake Lizotte – bringing us to the final margin of 7-3.

Hear from Fiala, Gavrikov and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Vladislav Gavrikov

Gavy breaks down the W in Minnesota & his shorthanded goal🏒@LAKings | #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/mB7Kyl60jd

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) October 20, 2023

Kevin Fiala
On what he liked most about the win tonight
We played 60 minutes, consistent. They didn’t have much, it was a little bit of a weird game I thought, not much on both ends, but we capitalized on our chances and won the game like that, so that’s great.

On anticipating the play that led to the fourth goal
Yeah, I know [Marc-Andre Fleury[, I know that I was kind of guessing that he was going to do it and then he did it, so it was a lucky bounce.

On the momentum swing that fourth goal gave the group
Yeah, that was huge. I mean, they had the lead there, then we tied it and we came right back and had the lead in, I don’t know, a minute or whatever it was we scored two goals. I think that was for sure a momentum switch, so that was great from our group.

On how big of a contributor Pierre-Luc Dubois has been early in the season
He’s big, he has size, he wins puck battles, sees the ice and can score. He’s a great player for us and we appreciate him for sure.

Todd McLellan
On what he saw in tonight’s first period, that led to a 4-2 scoreline
Quite frankly, it was a strange period. The way some of the goals went in and the type of challenges, both ways, but to come out of a strange period like that up two goals on the road, we’ll take it. Again, some of the goals weren’t pretty, but they all count at the end of the night and then I think as the game went on, we still made mistakes, but Talbs was really good. We started to lock it down, penalty kill was tremendous.

On creating momentum tonight off a penalty kill that went 4-of-4
Well, you can lose a lot of momentum and confidence in a game where your penalty kill is giving up freebies. Tonight, if we would have given one up, even in the last five seconds there it almost went in, they had to earn it. You feel good about yourself as you get the kill, obviously it’s important for our team this year. I thought as we continued throughout the night, to effectively kill, it gives us more and more confidence.

On Vladislav Gavrikov’s understanding of when to effectively activate offensively
The one thing with Gavy is he understands the balance, he knows when to go. He darts in and he darts back out, so rarely is he caught deep, hanging around and not being able to cover his defensive responsibility. Somewhere along the line, his instincts have taken over and they’ve been quite accurate, at least with us.

On Pierre-Luc Dubois’ ability to create in tight spaces, and how he’s meshed with his line
I think they’re starting to complement each other and I think Laf’s doing a really good job on that line too, especially offensively. Defensively, they’ll gel eventually and figure each other out, but Pierre-Luc uses his body really well to shield and create shooting space. He’s a big man, so he can get his hands away from his body, receive the puck while away from his body and still get a shot off. Pretty effective and finds that quiet ice at the right time. A lot of guys have poor timing, he has good timing.

Notes –
– Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) recorded his third assist and fifth point of the season, extending his season-opening point streak to four games (2-3=5). This is the fifth time in Kopitar’s career he has opened an NHL season with a point-streak of at least four games in length.
– Kopitar played in his 1,296th game as a member of the Kings tonight, tying Dustin Brown for most games played in franchise history. This was also Kopitar’s 647th road game with the Kings, surpassing Brown (646) for sole possession of the most road games played in team history.
– Pierre-Luc Dubois (2-0=2) scored his second and third goals of the season for his 15th career multi-goal game, his first multi-goal game as an LA King. Dubois has now scored three goals in his last two games, the sixth two-game span with three or more goals in his career.
– Dubois’ goals came 12 seconds (0:12) apart, marking the third-fastest two goals scored by a single player in franchise history, behind only Jari Kurri (0:10, Oct. 4, 1991 at WPG) and Ralph Backstrom (0:06, Nov. 2 1972 vs. BOS).
– Adrian Kempe (1-1=2) recorded his first goal of the season and recorded an assist for his 256th NHL point (132-124=256). In doing so, Kempe has passed Tomas Sandstrom (117-137=254) for the second-most points among skaters of Swedish nationality in Kings history. Only Juha Widing has more with 342 points (131-221=342).
– Trevor Moore (1-0=1) scored his fourth goal of the season, extending his active goal streak to three games (4g). It is the longest goal streak of Moore’s career. With the goal, Moore has now scored 110 points (44-66=110) as a member of the Kings, breaking a tie with Long Beach, Calif. native Matt Nieto (47-62=109, with SJS) for the most points scored by a California-born skater for a California-based team in NHL history.
– Carl Grundstrom (1-0=1) scored his second goal of the season. Grundstrom has now scored a goal in his last two road games against the Minnesota Wild (1G, April 10, 2022 at MIN).
– Vladislav Gavrikov (1-0=1) scored his second goal of the season and first of career against the Wild.
– Blake Lizotte (1-0=1) scored his first goal of the season. It was Lizotte’s fourth career shorthanded goal and the Kings’ first shorthanded goal of the season.
– Drew Doughty (0-1=1) tallied his first assist of the season for his 35th career point against the Minnesota Wild, extending his lead among all defensemen in points against the Wild. Tonight’s game marked Doughty’s 550th road game with the Kings, tying Dave Taylor for the third most in team history.
– Kevin Fiala (0-2=2) recorded his fifth and sixth assists of the season, extending his point and assist streak to three games (0-6=6). It is the fourth time in Fiala’s career he has recorded at least six points in a three-game span, and his first time doing so as a member of the Kings.
– Mikey Anderson (0-1=1) recorded his third assist of the season, extending his assist streak to three games. It is Anderson’s first three-game assist streak, and his third career three-game point streak.
– Arthur Kaliyev (0-1=1) recorded his second assist of the season for his third point (1-2=3) in his first two games.
– Andreas Englund (0-1=1) and Matt Roy (0-1=1) each tallied assists, Englund’s first point as a member of the Kings organization.
– The Kings scored four goals in the first period of play, the first time they have done so since tallying five in the first period on March 26, 2023, in a game vs. St. Louis.

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