In Nashville Thursday night, the Predators remain unable to find traction this season and lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 4-0 behind Peter Budaj 28 saves.
“I definitely think this is a tough building,” Budaj said. “I think this is a hard game to play in. This is a building where the home team is building off of the momentum of the
building, and I think our guys did a great job, especially on the [penalty kill].
“We blocked a lot of shots and we had a good stick so they couldn’t make any crisscross passes, so we kind of eliminated those one-timers, which Nashville is known for. Guys did a great job in front of me, and thank God I was able to see the puck and make some saves, so everything worked out good tonight.”
Budaj has been in the Kings net since Jonathan Quick went down in the game one of the season; Thursday’s shutout was his fourth of the season.
The Kings’ offense came from Nick Shore, Nic Dowd, Jeff Carter, and Devin Setoguchi.
Shore connected early in the first period to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.
“I think we approach every game the exact same way. Whether it’s the first game of a trip or this one, we’re going to come into it with the same mindset and try to play Kings hockey,” Shore said.
WATCH: All Kings vs. Predators highlights
The loss pushed the Preds to a 15-13-5 record on the season.
“It was back and forth, and we just gave up a couple of chances that cost us the game there in the third,” Nashville’s Mike Fisher said. “We just couldn’t find a way to win. It was disappointing. That was a big game for us. We’ll give it a rest here and come back fired up after Christmas.”
Pekka Rinne took the loss on 21 saves.
Anze Kopitar picked up his 700th NHL career point on an assist.

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