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Bouchard's SO tally gets Wild past Kings

Feb 2, 2011 - 4:19 AM St. Paul, MN (Sports Network) - Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored in the second round of the shootout, as the Minnesota Wild returned from the All-Star break with a 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center.

After Anze Kopitar of the Kings and Minnesota's Martin Havlat were stopped in the first round, Niklas Backstrom made a sprawling toe save on LA's Jack Johnson to start the second.

Bouchard then nearly lost control of the puck, but quickly gathered it and tucked a backhander between the pads of Jonathan Bernier to give the Wild the advantage. Kings captain Dustin Brown needed to score to keep the game alive, but was not able to and the Wild celebrated the win.

"He made a nice move," Bernier said. "At first he kind of lost the puck and I would like to get that one back."

Backstrom picked up his third shutout of the season and 22nd of his career after turning aside all 27 shots for Minnesota, which has won two straight and five of its last six games.

"Big win. It was not our best one, but I guess when you are coming out of a one week break and you're a little rusty, you can sure use two points," Bouchard said.

Despite taking the loss, Bernier was credited with his first whitewash of the season and the second of his career for making 25 stops. The Kings, who kicked off a mammoth 10-game road trip, had a three-game win streak halted.

After a scoreless opening period, goaltending remained the story in the second as Backstrom was strong with 13 saves, while Bernier turned aside all seven chances he faced. Minnesota did have a pair of power-play chances, but couldn't take advantage and it stayed scoreless after two periods.

The teams totaled 13 low-percentage shots in a scoreless third, then in overtime, the netminders each made a pair of stops to send the game to the shootout.

Game Notes

Wild forward Andrew Brunette played in his 1,000th career game...Despite the loss, the Kings have won seven of their last 11 versus Minnesota and four of six at Xcel Energy Center.