Minnesota
Wild uncover their nemesis, as Kings beat Minnesota a second time
LOS ANGELES – On an evening when they celebrated Star Wars Night at a hockey rink a few miles south of the iconic Hollywood sign, the Minnesota Wild may have found their arch-nemesis. And fittingly, the Los Angeles Kings come clad in all black, Darth Vader style.
For the second time this season, the Kings had their way with Minnesota, using the force to take a first-period lead and rendering the Wild mostly powerless to mount a comeback. The Kings’ 4-1 win was just the second regulation road loss suffered by the Wild this season, as they fell to 11-2-3 in games played outside of St. Paul.
Minnesota goalie Marc-Andre Fleury suffered his first regulation loss of the season despite 30 saves and the Kings were the aggressors right from the start. Coupled with a 5-1 win by Los Angeles on Election Night at Xcel Energy Center, the Wild have clearly found a weak spot in their otherwise impressive run over the season’s first two months.
Yakov Trenin scored Minnesota’s only goal with just 1:13 remaining, and the Kings got a pair of empty net goals in the win.
The Wild offered few excuses and credited Los Angeles for their style of playing with a lead, but it was noted that Saturday’s game was an early start after playing a late game against the Ducks the night before.
“Twenty-two hours. I don’t know who does the scheduling crap, but they have a tough job,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. “I get it, but being so close to Anaheim. I think they take that into consideration. We have to be up for these games. Effort, I think it’s there. It’s just, pucks were bouncing and we weren’t as crisp as we usually are.”
Darcy Kuemper, the Kings goalie who started his career in Minnesota a decade ago, had 23 saves and was within 73 seconds of becoming the first puck-stopper to turn in a shutout versus the Wild this season.
Both goalies were busy in the first period, with Kuemper thwarting a solo rush by Foligno, and Fleury leaning over the back of his net to grab a deflection that was coming hard off the glass.
The Kings finally broke through with 43 seconds remaining in the opening period, as Adrian Kempe redirected a cross-ice pass from Anze Kopitar. Kempe was crashing the crease and missed the puck with his stick, but it deflected off Kempe’s skate and past Fleury.
The Wild have now gone five games without a first-period goal, last scoring in the opening 20 minutes the night before Thanksgiving in a 1-0 win at Buffalo. But their coach says that’s just the way trends go sometimes, and there is not a reason for concern.
“If you looked at today’s game, I thought we had some prime-time looks right in the first and I think we start games on time. I think we’re ready to play,” John Hynes said. “I think sometimes that’s just how the games play out, but I think our starts have been good and strong, and sometimes you score early. Sometimes you score in the middle. Sometimes you score late. But it’s just finding ways to win games. But as far as the starts, I think we’ve been good.”
With Marcus Johansson in the penalty box for a knee-on-knee collision with Kings forward Vladislav Gavrikov, Los Angeles doubled the lead when Alex Laferriere ripped a wrist shot past Fleury on the power play.
After Fleury denied Kevin Fiala with a toe save early in the second, Foligno dropped the gloves with Kings forward Tanner Jeannot. Both men got a five-minute rest mandated by the officials as a result. Minnesota managed just three shots on Kuemper in the second period, despite two abbreviated power plays.
With Fleury pulled for an extra attacker in the third, Trevor Moore hit the empty net with 1:54 left to put the home team up by three before Trenin spoiled the shutout bid with his second goal of the weekend, and of the season. Moore hit a second empty-netter on the next shift.
After Friday night’s 5-1 win in Anaheim, Hynes elected to run it back, assembling the same 12 forwards and six defensemen and starting Fleury in goal as the only lineup change.
During a third period media timeout, the Kings gave a video board salute to Fleury, who has announced this season will be his last. The goalie gave a wave to the crowd to acknowledge their applause.
“Yeah, it’s expected,” Fleury said of the tough back-to-back schedule. “But we gotta find ways to still win. Still appreciate the boys, how they battle right till the end. Nobody quit. Kept trying. Gotta give (the Kings) a little credit. They shut it down pretty good back there.”
Kopitar was honored in the first period to mark the veteran forward playing in 1,400 career games — 700 at home and 700 on the road. He joined Luc Robitaille as the only players in Los Angeles franchise history to reach that milestone.
The Wild conclude their three-game road trip on Tuesday, making their first-ever visit to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Hockey Club. That franchise relocated from Arizona last summer, where they had been the Coyotes for more than 25 years.
Originally Published:
With family by his side, Dennis “Bud” Peterson went to be with the Lord on the morning of June 1, 2026.
He was born at Drake, North Dakota on April 2, 1932 in the home of his parents Nick and Helen Peterson. The family moved to Duluth at the beginning of World War II.
After graduation from Duluth Central High School Bud served in the US Army in Korea during the Korean War, and received an Honorable Discharge with the rank of Sergeant. He used his GI Bill benefits to attend UMD receiving an Associate Degree, and also earned his Commercial Instrument Pilot rating.
Bud was a longtime employee of St. Louis County retiring as Supervisor of Roads and Bridges. In retirement he served as Boiler Engineer and a do it all repairman for Duluth Gospel Tabernacle. He generously devoted his time and talents as a consummate do it yourself repairman to all of his family.
Dennis is preceded in death by his parents, Nick & Helen Peterson; brother, Robert Peterson; sister, June (Don) Kruger; and infant brother and sister, James and Delores Peterson.
He is survived by his sister, Carol (Eli) Miletich; and numerous nieces and nephews all of whom he loved dearly.
At Bud’s request, his family will be holding a private funeral service. Arrangements by Dougherty Funeral Home 218-727-3555.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services is reexamining over 5,000 Medicaid service providers across the state in an effort to combat fraud.
The federal government said it would pull $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding from Minnesota in January if the state didn’t make changes.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services set out to revalidate thousands of providers in programs deemed high risk for fraud by asking providers to submit verification paperwork and making unannounced site visits. The deadline passed on Sunday.
The latest data, published on May 27, shows 1,009 providers approved, 1,151 disenrolled and over 3,000 providers with pending applications.
Paige Berland and Camille Heyman run Minnesota Behavioral Specialists, providing autism care to children through two locations in the metro area. The women say that after submitting their paperwork, they received letters from DHS with determinations for both locations: the Bloomington center was terminated and the Eagan office was approved.
“It doesn’t make sense, everything is the same minus the location,” Berland said. “So why was one approved and one wasn’t approved?”
The termination letter said the Bloomington center was denied because they failed to disclose a managing employee during a site visit. Berland disputes that and said she already submitted an appeal.
“We were told to keep running, keep continuing as we are while we go through this process,” she said. “It just means that we don’t have the money coming in.”
Josh Berg with Accessible Space says they’re also in limbo. Berg said they offer integrated community supports, which means caretakers provide in-unit assistance for people with spinal cord injuries and disabilities.
“Most of the folks that we support are wheelchair-bound,” Berg said. “Helping with meals, helping with medications, helping them just live their lives.”
Berg said that of the seven locations where people are housed, the Department of Human Services terminated five and approved two. He believes the timeline to conduct this revalidation process was too aggressive. He said Accessible Space has also submitted an appeal.
“We’re not able to bill for services, we’re not able to start new services for anybody or change any of the supports that they receive,” he said.
Both Berg and Berland say they agree fraud needs to be dealt with, but they hope Minnesotans who truly need services aren’t left without the services they need.
“Not just the clients rely on services, but the families do too, so we can’t stop services; that’s not an option on our plate,” Berland said. “We want to continue to provide these services; they are medically necessary.”
The Minnesota Department of Human Services said a disenrollment letter could be sent for a few reasons, including failure to submit revalidation application after two notification attempts, failure to provide all requested documents within the required timeframe and failure to meet the criteria required during an on-site visit.
A spokesperson for the Department of Human Services said it’s currently in the process of compiling data from the thousands of applications, but didn’t say when the department would share those final numbers.
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