Wild get 2 in shootout to beat Kings 4-3

Erik Christensen and Mikko Koivu scored in a shootout, and the Wild rallied to beat the Kings 4-3 on Saturday night.

Darroll Powe, Nick Johnson and Christensen scored in regulation for the Wild, who won their second straight. Niklas Backstrom had 26 saves, then stopped both Los Angeles shootout attempts.

Brad Richardson scored twice and Dustin Brown had a goal for the Kings, who fell into a first-place tie with Phoenix. Anze Kopitar had three assists and Jonathan Bernier made 20 saves, but Los Angeles lost for the first time in three games.

The game marked the end of a four-games-in-six-nights trip for the Kings that started Monday in Vancouver with stops Wednesday in Calgary and Friday in Edmonton.

"Five out of six (points) in less than four days. I think if you'd have said that any other time other than right now, you'd say it was great," coach Darryl Sutter said.

Everything is magnified, however, with a week to play in the regular season.

The Kings have three games remaining: home against Edmonton on Monday and a home-and-home with the San Jose Sharks.

"For us, right now where we are in the standings, we need the points bad. It doesn't matter whether we're playing a team that's in it or out of it," defenseman Rob Scuderi said. "But to their credit, I think they played very well. They didn't give up too much. I thought they played real tight defensively."

Both teams had excellent scoring opportunities in overtime. Mike Richards was robbed on a left pad save by Backstrom, and the Wild's Devin Setoguchi hit the left post on a penalty shot.

Minnesota tied the game midway through the third period when a shot from Jason Zucker deflected off the stick of Los Angeles defenseman Slava Voynov and then off the skate of Christensen behind Bernier. The play was upheld by video review.

"I think we left one on the table. That's not too often we blow leads," Brown said.