The Kings got goals from Alec Martinez, Drew Doughty, Mike Richards, and Simon Gagne in getting more than two goals for the first time in five games. The Preds got goals from Matt Halischuk, Craig Smith, and Patric Hornqvist, who tied a club record with goals in six straight games.
In goal, it was the battle of the backups as Jonathan Bernier won his fifth game in six decisions against the Preds as he stopped 27 of 30 shots. Anders Lindback got his first start of the year, stopping 26 of thirty Kings' shots.
The Preds move on to Anaheim where they will play the Ducks tonight (Wednesday) at 9 p.m. CST.
Make the jump for more detail from the game...
Comments from the Couch...
First period...
Kevin Klein (ankle) and Sergei Kostitsyn (lower body) were scratches and Nick Spaling (groin) remains on the IR.
Lindback got his first start of the season and Bernier got his third start after playing well against the Preds in his career (4-1-0, 1.80, .940).
The game got off to an uneven start when Jarret Stoll was called for interference on Patric Hornqvist 25 seconds into the game.
With two seconds left in the Preds' power play, Hornqvist was called for goalie interference. That was compounded when Jerred Smithson was called for tripping Dustin Brown at 4:13 to give the Kings ten seconds of five on three.
Six seconds after the five on three expired, Martinez took a pass from Justin Williams and converted to give the Kings a power play goal and a 1-0 lead.
The Kings scored again at 6:13 on a shot from the left circle from Doughty that appeared to be redirected by a defending Predator. It was Doughty's first goal of the year and a great relief for him and Kings Nation.
At 9:43, Hornqvist did something to irritate Doughty in front of the Kings net and took a fist to the head and then responded and they both ended up in the box for roughing.
Halischuk cut the Kings lead in half during the four on four, at 10:41, when he skated from behind the net and took a shot and missed, but luckily, the puck came back to him and he put it into the net from the slot on his second try to pull within one at 2-1.
The Preds went on the man advantage at 14:19 when Simon Gagne got tied up with Shea Weber and was called for interference. In one exchange, the Kings failed to clear the puck from their defensive zone and Smith took a whack at the puck and knocked it into the net from the slot on an unassisted power play goal to tie the game 2-2.
The Kings had eight shots in the last 3:43 of the period that really distorted the first period shot count.
Near the end of the period, it was announced that David Legwand was out with an "upper body" injury and would not return. Legwand skated five shifts for 2:08 in ice time and never returned after the 6:43 mark. The Preds' TV crew found a good solid shoulder to shoulder check by Dustin Brown on his final shift that may have been the culprit.
| 1st Period | Goals | Shots | Corsi | PIMs | Faceoffs |
| Predators | 2 | 8 | 21 | 3-6:00 | 7-12 37% |
| Kings | 2 | 15 | 23 | 3-6:00 | 12-7 63% |
Second Period...
The second period started like the first with Stoll taking a penalty, this time for tripping Teemu Laakso on a race for the puck 20 seconds into the period. The Preds had three shots and no bananas.
After a turnover in the neutral zone, the Kings broke into a three on two break and Brown fed the puck to Richards who converted on his third goal of the year to give the Kings a 3-2 lead at 9:28. Penner had his second point of the season with the secondary assist.
Jordin Tootoo put the Kings on the power play at 10:32 for hooking Brad Richardson.
Gagne gave the Kings their second two goal lead at 12:33, one second after the man advantage expired, when he deflected a Dustin Penner shot that slipped past Lindback to give the Kings a 4-2 lead.
Things were heading down a bad path for the Predators when Laakso was called for delay of game at 15:00. The Preds got relief at 15:21 when Weber drew his second bad call of the game, this time with Brown being called for interference.
With 23.7 seconds left in the period, Hornqvist was called for his third penalty of the night when he tripped Williams.
| 2nd Period | Goals | Shots | Corsi | PIMs | Faceoffs |
| Predators | 0 | 8 | 14 | 3-6:00 | 10-11 48% |
| Kings | 2 | 11 | 19 | 2-4:00 | 11-10 520% |
Third Period...
The Predators entered the period with 1:24 of carry-over penalty from the Hornqvist trip at the end of the second period.
Weber drew his third penalty of the night at 3:31 when Penner was called for holding. The Preds got three shots but no goals and wasted a prime opportunity to close the gap.
The Preds got another shot at the power play at when Richards was called for hooking Marty Erat at 7:33. Nashville managed two shots but did not find the net.
When Brian McGrattan took an unnecessary boarding penalty at 12:02, it signaled tough times for the Preds and a real black mark on his page in the Preds' in-house scouting report.
Los Angeles did a great job of playing boring hockey and allowing the Predators to do nothing for the better part of the third period.
The Preds never gave up, scoring an empty net goal 14 seconds after Lindback was pulled when Hornqvist tied a franchise record, scoring a goal in his sixth consecutive game at 18:39 to bring the Preds within one at 4-3.
After several flurries in the final seconds, the Kings took home the win to break their five-game losing streak.
| 3rd Period | Goals | Shots | Corsi | PIMs | Faceoffs |
| Predators | 1 | 14 | 20 | 1-2:00 | 10-9 53% |
| Kings | 0 | 4 | 12 | 2-4:00 | 9-10 47% |
| Final | Goals | Shots | Corsi | PIMs | Faceoffs |
| Predators | 4 | 30 | 55 | 7-14:00 | 26-33 44% |
| Kings | 3 | 30 | 54 | 7-14:00 | 33-26 56% |
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment