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Wild hoping to get offense going, halt three-game skid

Dec 13, 2008 - 11:46 AM Minnesota (15-10-1) at Los Angeles (11-12-4), 4:00 pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- It's not hard to figure out why the Minnesota Wild have been struggling.

Defensive-minded coach Jacques Lemaire and the Wild are looking to end their offensive woes and snap a three-game losing streak against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

Antti Miettinen scored the team's lone goal Thursday as Minnesota suffered a 3-1 setback to the Phoenix Coyotes, who had not defeated the Wild since November 14, 2006.

Niklas Backstrom made 28 saves but did not get much help from the offense, which has managed two goals during the current losing streak.

"You've got to stay positive and keep working," Lemaire said. "We are looking to get more shots, talked about getting more shots, getting the pucks at the net and getting tips. I thought our power play did fine. The only thing is, we didn't score."

The Kings' power-play unit helped the team pick up their second win in six games. Captain Dustin Brown scored twice on the power play en route to his first career hat trick as Los Angeles posted a 6-2 victory over the Blues on Thursday.

Anze Kopitar netted a pair of goals and set up another and Alexander Frolov also scored the Kings, who scored their first three goals with the man-advantage.