Kings dominate in 4-0 victory over Wild
St. Paul, Minn. — Dustin Brown’s goal and assist helped ignite a four-goal first period, Martin Jones earned his fifth career shutout, and the Kings beat the Minnesota Wild 4-0 on Wednesday night.
Mike Richards, Tyler Toffoli and Justin Williams also scored for the Kings, who won on the road for just the second time this season.
Starting his second straight game and given a comfortable lead after the first, Jones stopped 28 shots for his first shutout since April 10, 2014. On Tuesday night, Jones was in the net when the Kings lost after a six-round shootout at Nashville.
Darcy Kuemper gave up all four first-period goals on 10 shots before being replaced by Niklas Backstrom to start the second.
Kuemper was 3-1-0 and had allowed just five goals in his previous four starts.
The blowout loss was Minnesota’s second defeat at home and its most lopsided of the season.
Richards re-directed a shot that hit the post and bounced past Kuemper at 4:21 of the first. It was only the third time this season the defending Stanley Cup champions scored first on the road.
Brown and Toffoli followed with back-to-back, 2-on-1 goals.
Williams flicked a wrist shot past Kuemper to make it 4-0 with 10 seconds left in the period and send the Wild to the locker room as the hometown crowd booed.
The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for Los Angeles.
Entering Wednesday, the Wild had outscored opponents at home 32-16.
It was the second time Minnesota has been shut out this season and first at home since Jan. 14, 2014, against Ottawa.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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