Minnesota Wild lose to Los Angeles Kings

The Minnesota Wild lost to the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. The 4-3 loss ended in a shootout, giving the Wild their first loss of the season – although the Wild are still the only team in the NHL that hasn’t lost in regulation. Pavol Demitra, Mikko Koivu and Brian Rolston scored for the Wild, but the shootout was weak and only Petteri Nummelin put a puck past the Kings goalie.

The game was filled with penalties and sloppy play by the Wild. Kings coach Marc Crawford said, "We limited the top team in the league to very few chances. We forced them to take a lot of penalties, and that's very uncharacteristic of a Minnesota Wild team." Most of the overtime period, in fact, was spent a man or two down and if it weren’t for the heroics of Minnesota Wild goalie Nik Backstrom the Wild wouldn’t have gotten the point on the road at all.

Coach Jacques Lemaire is clearly displeased with the penalties (17 in the past two games) but gave his players some leeway, citing early inconsistency in holding and hooking calls among NHL officials. Defenseman Brent Burns had five minors, including a double-minor for high sticking.

"Burnsie didn’t play a good game," the coach said. "You know, 10 minutes [in penalties], no fighting. That’s not a sign of a good defenseman."

Wild Game Fact: Mark Parrish played in his 600th NHL game. His mother Barb was one of 17 players' moms who were guests of the Wild during the team's three-game western swing. Way to go Mark Parrish – 600!