They can't say they weren't warned. Wednesday morning, before the Wild's 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center, coach Mike Yeo cautioned that his team needed to guard against a letdown.
The Wild entered the game fresh from a good road trip and had a 7-1 home record, while the Kings had staggered to a 1-4-4 mark on the road. Yeo wasn't fooled. "They're a very deep team, well organized, well coached,'' he said of the defending Stanley Cup champions. "There's not an aspect of your game or a player that can have a night off. A good game is not good enough against that team.''
And a bad game turned out to be horrific. The Kings torched the Wild for four first-period goals, including two in the final 1 minute, 42 seconds, and goaltender Martin Jones stopped all 28 shots he faced for his fifth career shutout. On an off night from goaltender Darcy Kuemper, the Wild didn't help matters when it gave up a multitude of odd-man rushes in the first period to help the Kings earn their first road victory since Nov. 4.
Kuemper was pulled after surrendering four goals on 10 shots. Niklas Backstrom made 12 saves to prevent the Kings from adding to their lead, but his teammates could muster little against an aggressive Los Angeles defense.
A Thanksgiving Eve crowd announced at 19,038 booed the Wild off the ice at the first intermission. They grew quiet in the second period, then disappeared altogether, heading home early after seeing nothing to cheer about.
"We gave up what, 15 odd-man rushes in the first period?'' Wild winger Zach Parise asked. "They capitalized on them, and it got away from us after that.''
The Kings gave star goaltender Jonathan Quick the night off, starting Jones for the second night in a row. In his second NHL season, he was facing the Wild for the first time. Jones got plenty of help from a high-pressure defense that forced a rash of turnovers and gave the Wild no room to maneuver in the offensive zone.
That poor road record had begun to wear on Los Angeles, which lost in a shootout Tuesday night at Nashville to fall to 0-1-1 on a road trip that ended Wednesday. The Kings hoped to seize an early lead against the Wild, which had allowed only seven first-period goals in its first 20 games.
While Yeo was pleased with the Wild's tenacity and sharpness on a road trip that yielded two victories in three games, he seemed concerned that his team expected its momentum to continue flowing all on its own. He urged his players to be ready, but they spent the entire first period chasing the Kings. Mike Richards started the scoring at 4:21 when he deflected Dwight King's shot from the right circle past Kuemper. At 13:13, Dustin Brown skated up the left wall on a two-on-one and sent in a shot that trickled through the goalie's pads.
Five minutes later, the Kings got another two-on-one when Tyler Toffoli blocked a shot, then raced down the ice and beat Kuemper with a backhand. Los Angeles finished the period with another goal at 19:50, when Justin Williams got open in the slot.
Kuemper said he felt good in warmups but was "off a little bit'' in the game. Yeo said he thought about pulling Kuemper after the second goal, a choice he later regretted.
"The list of regrets I have now is very long,'' Yeo said. "We actually came out with some good energy, but execution and details killed us. That's not even close to the way we're supposed to play the game.''
The Wild outshot the Kings 10-5 in the second period, but they also misfired on many shots — missing the net 18 times in the game — and failed to corral passes.
