ST. PAUL - Mikael Granlund scored just 12 seconds into overtime as the Minnesota Wild emerged from their NHL bye week on the right note, beating the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 on Monday night at Xcel Energy Center.
Granlund split a pair of Kings defenders, then scored on a pretty stickhandling play for Minnesota's only lead of the game.
Newly acquired forward Ryan White had a goal and an assist in his Wild debut as Minnesota (40-14-6) won for the third time in four games. Goalie Devan Dubnyk had 26 saves for the Wild, who also got goals from Jason Zucker, Nino Niederreiter and Jordan Schroeder.
Minnesota was playing without wings Zach Parise and Jason Pominville, who were diagnosed with mumps.
Minnesota is the second NHL team to get hit with the contagious ailment this month. Four members of the Vancouver Canucks have missed time with mumps as well.
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The Wild announced that Parise, Pominville and other members of the organization with mumps symptoms are being tested and will be placed in isolation for a five-day period. Team doctors have recently provided players and staff with vaccinations and the Wild are working closely with the NHL, NHLPA and the Minnesota Department of Health to prevent further spread of the illness.
The Kings (30-27-5) held leads of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3, only to see Minnesota pull even each time. Former Wild star Marian Gaborik, Jake Muzzin, Tanner Pearson and Nick Shore scored for the Kings, who lost for the second time in the past three games despite 30 saves from Jonathan Quick.
Gaborik scored at 1:57 of the third period, giving him 100 points in a Kings uniform, and putting the visitors up 4-3. However, Zucker spun around 30 feet out from the crease and slid a low shot between Quick's knees to tie the game with 12:56 to play.
The Kings were up 2-1 after 20 minutes. Shore broke a 21-game streak in which he'd been held without a goal. Niederreiter answered for Minnesota after he was left alone in front of Quick and flipped a wrist shot past the goalie. But Pearson scored to put the Kings back in the lead, with a seeing-eye shot that deflected off the leg of Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin and past Dubnyk on the glove side.
The Wild tied the score 2-2 early in the second period when Schroeder's centering pass from behind the net went off Kings defender Alec Martinez and past Quick. But the Kings answered to lead 3-2 on a long-range shot by Muzzin that deflected off newly acquired Wild forward Martin Hanzal and eluded Dubnyk.
But Minnesota drew even a third time when White tipped an Eric Staal shot low and under Quick.
* Minnesota made a second trade with Arizona in as many days on Monday, sending F Teemu Pulkkinen to the Coyotes for future considerations. Pulkkinen played nine games with the Wild this season, recording one goal. The 25-year-old also collected 36 points (18 goals, 18 assists) and 36 penalty minutes in 47 games with the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League.
* The Wild lost 27-year-old center Zac Dalpe on Monday when the Columbus Blue Jackets claimed him off waivers. Dalpe has been nursing a torn meniscus in his right knee for much of this season. He underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair the tear Oct. 31and has had several setbacks along the way.
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* Hours after Dalpe was claimed by the Blue Jackets, the Wild responded by calling up center Tyler Graovac from the minors. Graovac has six goals in 46 NHL games this season. He was sent down to the minors entering the bye week and notched a hat trick Sunday in the Iowa Wild's 4-3 overtime loss to the Chicago Wolves.
