Pierre-Luc Dubois scored two first-period goals in 12 seconds, and the Los Angeles Kings pulled away for a 7-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Carl Grundstrom, Vladislav Gavrikov, Trevor Moore, Adrian Kempe and Blake Lizotte also scored for the Kings, who posted back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
Connor Dewar, Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek scored for Minnesota.
Kings goaltender Cam Talbot turned aside 29 of 32 shots against his former team to get the victory.
Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury gave up five goals on 25 shots.
The first period featured a barrage of scoring. By the time the horn blew to end the first 20 minutes, the teams had combined for a half-dozen goals, with the Kings ahead 4-2.
Grundstrom started the scoring for Los Angeles only 2:39 after the opening faceoff. He picked up a loose puck near the top of the right circle and beat Fleury with a snap shot for his second goal of the season.
The Wild pulled even less than four minutes later. A long entry pass ricocheted off the glass behind the net and into the slot, where Dewar quickly capitalized for his second goal.
Minnesota pulled ahead 2-1 on Kaprizov’s second goal 99 seconds later. He deflected a shot from the point by Jonas Brodin.
The Kings answered with 4:14 remaining in the first period. Gavrikov punched in a loose puck from the front of the net for his second goal.
Dubois scored twice in 12 seconds in the final minute of the first period to make it 4-2. His first goal bounced off his skates and trickled between Fleury’s legs, and moments later he buried a wrist shot from the slot for his second marker of the game and his third of the season.
Midway through the third period, Los Angeles increased its lead to 5-2. Moore went to his forehand and flipped a shot over Fleury’s right shoulder for his fourth goal of the campaign.
Minnesota cut the deficit to 5-3 with 5:22 remaining in the third period. Eriksson Ek scored his fourth goal of the season off a feed from Marcus Johansson.
Kempe added an empty-net goal with 2:19 to go.
Then, with 1:08 remaining, Lizotte tallied a short-handed goal to finish the scoring.
–Field Level Media
