Minnesota gets 2 power-play goals, beats Los Angeles 3-2

Havlat’s 3rd-period goal sends Wild past Kings 3-2

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Martin Havlat scored a power-play goal in the third period and the Minnesota Wild beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Monday.

Owen Nolan and Brent Burns also scored for Minnesota, which kept its remote playoff chances alive.

Scott Parse scored twice for the Kings, 0-3-1 in their past four to tie their longest winless streak of the season. Los Angeles lost four straight from Dec. 17-30.

The Kings, who haven’t played in the postseason since 2002, are seventh in the tight Western Conference, four points behind fifth-place Nashville, which beat Florida 3-2 in overtime, and one point behind idle Detroit. Los Angeles plays at Nashville on Tuesday.

Minnesota is nine points behind eighth-place Colorado with six games left. The Avalanche have seven games remaining.

With Andrew Brunette standing in front, Havlat’s slap shot from just inside the left point beat Jonathan Quick high on the glove side at 7:38. It was Minnesota’s second power-play goal of the game.

The Kings, who gave up four power-play goals in Saturday’s loss to Dallas, allowed Minnesota to go 2 for 3 with the man advantage.

With the game tied at 2, the Kings had a two-man advantage for 2 minutes early in the third period, but could not convert. Niklas Backstrom made one diving save and defenseman Greg Zanon blocked three slap shots from Jarret Stoll — one with his back as he laid out on the ice — before hobbling off the ice grimacing in pain.

Nolan scored for the second straight game to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 1:19 of the second period, backhanding a rebound between the pads of Quick. The Wild have a power-play goal in a season-high five straight games.

Burns scored his first goal in 29 games during a four-on-four situation 6 minutes later. He took a pass from Mikko Koivu atop the left circle, fought off Brad Richardson as he cut to the slot, and lifted a shot over Quick on the stick side.

Parse cut the deficit to 2-1 at 12:47 when his slap shot from the blue line deflected off the skate of Casey Wellman behind Backstrom.

Parse’s one-timer from the right circle beat Backstrom at 1:25 of the third.

NOTES: Koivu, who missed the past two games with an upper-body injury, established career highs with 48 assists and 68 points. … Because G Erik Ersberg is out with a strained back, Los Angeles recalled G Jonathan Bernier from the AHL Manchester under emergency conditions. … The Wild recalled G Anton Khudobin from AHL Houston to replace Josh Harding who aggravated his hip injury Friday. … D Matt Greene, who missed the last three games with an upper-body injury, returned for the Kings. … Kevin Love gave the ceremonial “Let’s Play Hockey!” before the game, becoming the first Minnesota Timberwolves player to do so. The NBA team has tied a franchise record by losing 16 straight games.