How did the Wild upstage one of its worst starts of the season?
By assembling its most impressive comeback.
After overcoming a three-goal deficit on three consecutive shots, the Wild dumped the Kings 6-3 on Sunday in front of 19,104 at Xcel Energy Center to finish off its largest rally of the season.
As a result, the Wild reclaimed second place in the Central Division after getting bumped by the Blues. St. Louis also has 94 points, but the Wild holds the tiebreaker since it's played one fewer game.
This was the Wild's eighth multi-goal comeback of the season, a franchise record that is also tops in the NHL. The team is now also 8-0-1 over its last nine at home.
Mats Zuccarello's goal off a faceoff 9 minutes, 46 seconds into the second period was the clincher, putting the Wild ahead 4-3 before the team padded its lead. Marcus Foligno deflected in the puck at 13:59 before Nick Bjugstad cleaned up the rebound from a Jake Middleton shot that hit the post 3:16 into the third.
Those tallies capped off six in a row by the Wild to make up for a disastrous beginning.
Los Angeles scored shorthanded just 1:33 into the first period when Rasmus Kupari flipped the puck over goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after a Kevin Fiala turnover.
Next up was an even-strength goal for the Kings, with Carl Grundstrom skating from behind the net to sling a backhander through traffic and by Fleury at 8:22, before Los Angeles capitalized on the power play on an Adrian Kempe shot at 10:17. The Kings went 1-for-3.
Then the Wild took over.
Kirill Kaprizov banked in a shot off a Kings stick at 16:04 during a power play for his 42nd goal, which ties Marian Gaborik (2007-08) and Eric Staal (2017-18) for the Wild's single season record.
The Wild's next shot 50 seconds later was a one-timer from Matt Boldy, who was back in action after missing four games with an upper-body injury. He also assisted on Kaprizov's goal, giving him back-to-back multi-point efforts for the first time in his career.
Not until 1:39 into the second did the Wild put another puck on net, and this backhander by captain Jared Spurgeon erased its deficit. Spurgeon also registered an assist, and his career-high seven-game assist and point streaks are tied for the longest in Wild history by a defenseman.
Middleton also picked up two points, both assists, while Ryan Hartman's assist on Zuccarello's goal was the 100th of his career. Zuccarello is one point shy of his 500th. The Wild power play went 1-for-3.
Fleury had 31 saves, and Cal Petersen made 27 stops for Los Angeles.
