ST. PAUL, Minn. _ First place in the West, a 20-point cushion on a playoff spot, remarkably healthy, willing to go "all-in" on a headline-making trade the day before, perhaps things were just too cushy for the Wild.
Excited to put together a full lineup one day after acquiring Martin Hanzal and Ryan White _ or, to be more accurate, Ryan White and Martin Hanzal, at least for one night, the Wild have been struck with their second mumps outbreak in three seasons.
Despite the indefinite absences of Zach Parise and Jason Pominville, White _ the fourth-line "junkyard dog" placed on the top line in his Wild debut _ helped the Wild rally from a goal down four times to beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-4, in overtime.
Leading scorer Mikael Granlund, playing his 300th career game, scored a highlight-reel goal 12 seconds into the 3-on-3 extra session by splitting two defenders and tucking a beautiful breakaway goal past Jonathan Quick.
The Wild moved three points ahead of Chicago with two games in hand by picking up its 40th win and avoiding consecutive regulation losses for the first time since Nov. 1 and 5.
The Wild's 86 points in 60 games is one point short of last season's 82-game mark.
The Wild ended their franchise-record-long eight-game homestand with a 5-2-1 record and now begins a stretch of seven of its next nine on the road Tuesday in Winnipeg.
The Wild's 15-3-2 following a loss this season, including eight nine wins.
White, 28, scored a goal and assist in a game Nino Niederreiter, Jordan Schroeder and Jason Zucker also scored goals.
After Marian Gaborik, the all-time leading goal scorer in Wild history, gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the third period, Zucker tied the score with his 19th goal 7:04 into the period on a spinning shot off Tyler Graovac's feed.
It was bound to be a tough game for the Wild.
First, players, after spending the past week recharging in places like Mexico, Arizona, Florida and Jamaica, were returning from their five-day bye. Teams coming off their break were 7-15-4 with a 4-11-3 mark in February.
Second, Parise and Pominville, who practiced Sunday, were sidelined with the mumps. Coupled with having to integrate Hanzal and White, who arrived in Minnesota in the afternoon and didn't get to practice first with their new team, coach Bruce Boudreau scrambled to fill out his lineup sheet.
That was compounded earlier in the day when Zac Dalpe was claimed off waivers by Columbus. The Wild were trying to reset Dalpe's 10-game/30-day waiver clock to ensure it didn't have to keep him on the roster for the rest of the season after Wednesday's trade deadline. Instead, the Wild had to hurry in Graovac for his third game in three nights. One has to think the team will recall a forward Tuesday in case Graovac can't play a fourth in four games.
White played right wing on a line with Niederreiter and Eric Staal, the unbreakable Zucker-Mikko Koivu-Mikael Granlund line remained intact and Hanzal centered Erik Haula, who moved to left wing, and Charlie Coyle.
After the Kings took a 1-0 lead, Niederreiter answered Nick Shore's early goal with his third straight 20-goal season (White had the second assist on the Jared Spurgeon setup). But after Trevor Pearson capitalized on a Koivu turnover by deflecting a shot off Jonas Brodin and past Devan Dubnyk, the Wild's fourth line of Chris Stewart, Graovac and Schroeder tied the score at 2-2.
Schroeder forced Brayden McNabb into a turnover to Stewart, then tied the game with his fourth goal when his centering pass deflected in off a Kings defender.
It was a satisfying goal for Schroeder, who presumably would have been scratched for White had Parise and Pominville not come down with the mumps.
Still, the back and forth continued when the Kings regained a 3-2 lead when defenseman Jake Muzzin's shot deflected off two Wild players _ first Coyle, then Hanzal and by Dubnyk.
But just 2:05 later, White, the former Calgary Hitmen star, tied the score at 3 with his first goal of the Wild by getting his stick on Eric Staal's shot at the net.
It was White's sixth career two-point game.
