The Los Angeles Kings are fighting hard to stay in the playoff picture and will take wins any way they can get them.  Drew Doughty scored the deciding shootout goal and the Kings beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Tuesday night.  The shootout was tied 1-1 after three rounds and Doughty scored the winner on the Kings’ fourth shot. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick denied Brent Burns, the Minnesota Wild’s final shooter, to seal the win.

Drew Doughty didn’t get much of a shot off against Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom, but the puck somehow trickled into the net. The Kings’ regulation goal was knocked in by a Minnesota Wild defender and the Kings escaped with two points.

The Minnesota Wild is 4-2 in shootouts and the Kings are 4-7.  Jack Johnson got credit for the Kings’ goal and Antii Miettinen scored for the Wild in regulation.  Miettinen scored a short-handed goal for the Minnesota Wild in the second period. Mikko Koivu assisted on the 2-on-1 break for his 55th point this season, a career high.

Allowing a short-handed goal is tough to overcome, but the Kings came right back at the Wild.It was Minnesota’s fourth short-handed goal in its last eight games, but the team continues to struggle to score at even strength. Johnson was credited with a goal 10 minutes later to tie it. However, it was Minnesota’s Kim Johnsson who put the puck in the net. After a scrum in front, Johnsson mistakenly poked the puck past Backstrom.

Andrew Brunette returned to the Minnesota Wild lineup after missing the last two games with a knee injury and was denied by Quick from in close with 1:40 to play in regulation. Los Angeles’ Derek Armstrong was one-on-one with Backstrom after a Minnesota Wild turnover, but couldn’t break the 1-1 tie earlier in the third period.

Los Angeles had lost three in a row, but is 9-4-2 in its last 15 games and entered Tuesday as the 12th best team in the Western Conference. The Kings were only five points out of a playoff spot and Tuesday’s victory over a conference foe will go a long way toward helping them sneak into the playoff picture.

Following a weekend sweep of Detroit and Chicago, the Minnesota Wild are solidly in the playoff picture in the Western Conference. Holding that playoff spot will be a challenge in the coming weeks as the Minnesota Wild plays 14 of its next 17 games on the road.