ST. PAUL, Minn. _ The first 10 games of the Wild's season were a buffet of some of the NHL's best: Colorado, Toronto and two servings of Nashville.
Finally, on Saturday, the team took a break by facing off against an opponent in the same under-performing realm it's been stuck in this month.
And the Wild took advantage, indulging in a 5-1 rout of the Kings at Xcel Energy Center that secured its third straight victory on home ice and improved it to 3-1 over its last four games overall.
Center Eric Staal continued his recent resurgence, scoring the decisive goal late in the second period, defenseman Matt Dumba chipped in two assists and goalie Alex Stalock snuffed out 30 shots in his second consecutive start with No.1 Devan Dubnyk on the mend from a fall on Tuesday.
In total, 11 different Wild players earned at least a point.
Most of that production took place in the third period after the offense went dormant for much of the first and second periods.
The Wild built an early lead, with a floater from Dumba caroming off screen Gerald Mayhew before flying in the net at 5 minutes, 50 seconds of the first. But it was a struggle for the team to grow that cushion.
In the second, just after a Mayhew-led 2-on-1 fizzled before a shot, the Kings transitioned the other way and center Adrian Kempe set up defenseman Ben Hutton for the equalizer _ a blistering shot over Stalock's left shoulder.
That was the start of a takeover by the Kings, who had a 16-8 edge in shots at one point.
Not even back-to-back power plays could revive the Wild's offense, which managed just two shots before the second advantage was cut short by a Ryan Suter tripping penalty.
During an ensuing short-handed situation, the Wild had one of their best looks of the night when defenseman Jonas Brodin led a 2-on-0 attack but his pass went through center Joel Eriksson Ek.
Both power plays ended up going 0 for 3.
Eventually, with 2:56 to go in the period, the Wild capitalized.
Staal kept the shot off the rush into Los Angeles' zone, lifting it over goaltender Jonathan Quick's glove for Staal's third goal in his last three games and fifth point in the past four.
The spark from that tally seemed to carry over into the third, because just 28 seconds into the frame the Wild potted a valuable insurance marker when Eriksson Ek swatted in the rebound off a Dumba shot _ Eriksson Ek's first goal of the season in his return from a three-game injury absence.
Dumba also notched his second assist of the game on the play and is tied for the team lead in points at 6 with Staal and fellow defender Brad Hunt.
Another first came later in the third; after winger Marcus Foligno's shot on a pass to the front of the net by winger Ryan Hartman was saved by Quick, captain Mikko Koivu buried the loose puck at 6:39.
Not only was it Goal No.1 of this campaign for Koivu, but it was also his first since Feb.2 _ the game before he suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee and was sidelined for the rest of the season.
Defenseman Jared Spurgeon tacked on a season-high fifth goal when he put back a rebound at 12:24.
Quick finished with 22 saves.
