Kings, fresh off rout of Vegas, host familiar foe Minnesota Wild

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With the upwind astatine their backs from a rousing show successful their play opener, the Kings are acceptable to instrumentality connected a foe Saturday astatine Staples Center with whom they familiarized themselves during past season’s realigned campaign.

Last season, the Kings faced the Minnesota Wild 8 times arsenic a divisional opponent, losing six of those games, including 3 successful overtime. This season, the Wild, who were thing of a astonishment occurrence communicative past season, moved backmost to the Central Division, and it’s the Kings looking to beryllium this campaign’s up-and-comer successful the Pacific.

The Kings got disconnected to a phenomenal start, shelling the Vegas Golden Knights 6-2 successful a crippled that saw them bounce backmost from an aboriginal extremity against, spell two-for-two connected the powerfulness play, beryllium cleanable connected the punishment kill, get tremendous contributions from their enactment radical and integrate caller players into the premix seamlessly.

Captain Anze Kopitar levitated with a chapeau instrumentality and 2 assists. Three recently acquired forwards – Phillip Danault, Viktor Arvidsson and Vladimir Tkachev – produced 4 points, portion the halfway 3 skaters from the glory years poured successful a combined 11 points. Defenseman Alex Edler contributed to a dependable nighttime connected the different broadside of the puck.

“I deliberation that the content is astatine a higher level close present than it was, certainly, astatine the extremity of past year, that’s conscionable the mode it is,” said Kings Coach Todd McLellan, whose strategy flourished Thursday. “The summation of 4 players, getting guys healthy, having grooming campy to enactment connected the game, we should consciousness bully astir ourselves.”

While Arvidsson’s assistance was a nonstop play and Danault’s extremity was a deflection disconnected a defender’s skate, Tkachev made immoderate plays that jumped disconnected the screen, particularly connected the apical power-play portion wherever helium registered 2 assists. On his archetypal helper, helium lifted a walk from the left-wing partition to the close constituent done a choky seam to acceptable up a man-advantage goal. He besides contributed to respective bid of passes that were truthful slick that they made the Kings astir unrecognizable from the radical that struggled successful the 2nd fractional of past season.

“He’s a precise unsocial subordinate for our team. He has a encephalon that not galore guys connected our squad person and he’s crafty. It’s large to spot a feline similar that connected our squad this year,” defenseman Drew Doughty said.

Tkachev managed to alert nether the radar implicit the summertime for the astir part. But present the 25-year-old Russian import’s show has created buzz and much predominant comparisons with a brace of his countrymen who rode precocious entries into the NHL to stardom: the New York Rangers’ Artermi Panarin and Minnesota’s ain Kirill Kaprizov.

Kaprizov, 24, had his ain stunning debut past twelvemonth erstwhile helium had 2 assists successful regularisation and a game-winning extremity successful overtime. He scored 9 points successful 8 meetings with the Kings, the astir helium posted against immoderate squad past play different than the Arizona Coyotes. But the Kings and Coyotes were acold from unsocial successful their struggles to incorporate Kaprizov, arsenic helium racked up astir a point-per-game en way to the Calder Trophy awarded to the NHL’s rookie of the year.

The Wild had not yet opened their play Friday afternoon, arsenic they were acceptable to instrumentality connected the Ducks successful Anaheim, making Saturday’s lucifer the 2nd fractional of a back-to-back acceptable for them.

Impeding Kaprizov, recently extended halfway Joel Eriksson-Ek and play-driving defenseman Jared Spurgeon volition beryllium seasoned Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. He had started 12 consecutive play openers, but gave mode to Cal Petersen connected Thursday.