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Kopitar, Brown help Kings tame Wild

Jan 21, 2009 - 5:24 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- A quick spurt in the second period helped the Los Angeles Kings end a slide.

Anze Kopitar and All-Star Dustin Brown scored 74 seconds apart in the middle session to lead the Kings to a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.

Kyle Calder netted a goal and set up another while rookie Drew Doughty and fellow defenseman Matt Greene collected two assists apiece for the Kings, who ended a four-game losing streak.

"We've got to get some momentum, get on a roll here," Greene said. "We've just got to keep getting points (to) stay in the hunt here."

Derek Armstrong and Patrick O'Sullivan also tallied and Jonathan Quick made 25 saves for Los Angeles, which recorded just its sixth road win of the season - becoming the last Western Conference team to reach the plateau.

"The intensity - their work ethic is much better. It's more of a team effort," Kings coach Terry Murray said. "This is the way we have played most of the year. I really liked most of the situations, most of the games we've been in this year."

Owen Nolan and defenseman Marek Zidlicky scored power-play goals and captain Mikko Koivu notched two assists for the Wild, who have lost both meetings with the Kings this season after posting a 7-0-1 record against them during the previous two campaigns.

"I don't know how it can be completely different from yesterday," Wild All-Star goaltender Niklas Backstrom said, referring to Minnesota's convincing road win at Chicago on Monday. "We can't play like this at home. We have to play better, find a way to win, and today, we did not do that."

With the game knotted at 1-1, Calder collected a rebound in the slot and delivered a backhanded pass to a streaking Kopitar in the left faceoff circle. Kopitar fired a quick a snap shot past Backstrom at 7:18 of the second for his 12th goal of the season.

It was just the 21-year-old Slovenian's second tally in his last 16 contests. The goal also ended the Kings' 0-for-26 drought with the man advantage.

"To get a (power-play) goal is great," Brown said. "Our puck movement was really good tonight, and we got some goals."

Just over a minute later, Brown doubled the advantage. Skating toward the net, Brown swatted Jarret Stoll's shot - which first hit a defender - out of the air and past Backstrom at 8:32.

The play was reviewed and upheld, giving Los Angeles a 3-1 bulge.

After Zidlicky's goal with 8:38 left in the period halved the deficit, Armstrong deflected Greene's shot past Backstrom with 4:06 remaining in the period to restore the two-goal advantage.

Backstrom allowed four goals on 26 shots over two sessions before being replaced by Josh Harding, who turned aside all five shots he faced in the third.

O'Sullivan added an empty-netter against the franchise by which he was drafted in 2003 with five seconds left in the third to cap the scoring.

"You look at their points, and you look at the standings, you look at all this and you say, 'Oh, we'll be OK,'" Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "But this is a team that plays hard, desperate. They came to play a real solid game, a real physical game."