LOS ANGELES (AP) &045; An official’s ruling that could have gone either way prevented Minnesota’s Wes Walz from getting his second goal of the game, kept the score tied and gave Los Angeles a chance to win in overtime.

Pavol Demitra made sure the Kings capitalized on the break.

The Los Angeles newcomer scored on a 40-foot wrist shot with 1:29 left in the extra period, Eric Belanger also scored and Mathieu Garon made 24 saves, leading the Kings to a 2-1 victory over the Wild on Sunday night.

Walz tried to jam a rebound past Garon with 4:26 left in the third period, and the puck ended up in the goalie’s glove along the goal line. Referees Rob Shick and Kelly Sutherland had to go to the instant replay to determine if the puck crossed the line entirely, but replays were inconclusive &045; including an overhead shot that showed Garon’s arm move backward on Walz’s final whack.

&8221;I didn’t see the replay, but common sense will tell you that if the glove and the arm are behind the goal line, there’s a pretty good chance the puck is underneath it,&8220; Minnesota center Brian Rolston said. &8221;I guess common sense doesn’t mean anything there.&8220;

Minnesota’s loss was its second straight by a 2-1 margin, both on the road following a 6-3 home win on opening night against Calgary. The new rules that were designed to help increase scoring haven’t had much of an impact on the Wild, but they remain one of the toughest defensive teams.

&8221;I think it’s a big misconception that Minnesota is a trapping team,&8220; Kings coach Andy Murray said. &8221;They’re an aggressive forechecking team. They work hard, they get in your face and their penalty kill makes it tough to get anything going.&8220;

&8221;They play structurally so well and work so hard. That was our theme all day. We had to match their work ethic. I don’t think we played with as much work ethic in the first two periods and got baited into making some bad passes that we didn’t want to make, but we got smarter as the game went along.&8220;

The Kings tied it at 2:52 of the second on a play that would have been whistled for offsides prior to this season, when passing the puck across two lines was a rule violation. Defenseman Mike Weaver made a long pass from behind his blue line to Derek Armstrong, who was a step behind the Minnesota line. Rookie George Parros worked the puck to Belanger, who beat Manny Fernandez to the stick side from short range.

Fernandez made 30 saves in his season debut after missing the first two games because of back and neck spasms. It was his first game action since his preseason appearance on Sept. 23, when he made 27 saves in a 2-1 victory over Florida.

&8221;It would have been nice to steal one here,&8220; Fernandez said. &8221;The guys worked hard and we didn’t get what we deserved. But they played hard, too.&8220;

On the winning goal, Tim Gleason sent Craig Conroy into the Minnesota zone with the puck. Conroy fed it to Demitra, who stepped around Wild defenseman Nick Schultz and beat Fernandez to the glove side through a screen for his second goal this season.

&8221;I couldn’t see the shot, but I knew he was going high-glove,&8220; Fernandez said. &8221;I saw his face move, I saw his head move and I knew the shot was coming. I knew where he was going with it and I knew I was beaten right away.&8220;

Demitra, who averaged 30 goals in his previous seven seasons before signing with the Kings as a free agent in August, acknowledged that he waited for the screen to develop before pulling the trigger.

&8221;The defenseman tried to step up on me, so I faked, went around him, got open space and took a shot,&8220; he said. &8221;There were two guys skating in front of the goalie, and I just shot as hard as I could. They have a hardworking team, play a strong defensive game and they’re not going to open up too much at any time. So you have to make the most of the chances you create against them.&8220;

Los Angeles’ defense was bolstered by the return of team captain Mattias Norstrom, the only Kings player to appear in all 17 regular-season meetings with Minnesota. Norstrom had been sidelined since Sept. 27 because of a strained left hamstring.

Walz opened the scoring at 6:52 of the first period with an unassisted goal, beating Garon to the stick side from short range after a turnover in the Kings’ zone.