In Nashville, David Rittich made 39 saves and the visiting Los Angeles Kings doubled up the Predators, 4-2, on Wednesday night.
The win snapped a four-game skid.
“I hope that this is going to help us flip the coin and start a stretch with wins,” Rittich said. “It’s for sure great for us going into the break after a win. A really important win against the team who was in the wild card. Each point for us is really important in our situation, so I’m glad we came away with two.”
LA improved to 23-15-10.
“We haven’t rolled over and quit, a reflection of the character of the group,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “We’ve got a long way to go to get our game back, but to go into the (All-Star) break feeling a little bit good about ourselves is a real good thing. I thought we had pretty good focus for most of the night.”
The Kings took a 2-0 lead in the games.
Carl Grundstrom, staked LA to a 1-0 lead at 8:51 of the opening stanza following a turnover in the neutral.
“We wanted to bring some energy tonight and have positive shifts for our team,” LA’s Trevor Lewis said. “We had a few good chances there. It was awesome to see [Alex Turcotte] get his first one. That’s a huge boost for the team, too. Everyone is excited. And [Grundstrom] hadn’t scored for a while either (since Nov. 25), so I’m sure he was pretty happy about that. It was a good night.”
The Kings’ Turcotte pushed the lead to 2-0 at 5:36 of the middle frame.
“That was all [Moore],” Turcotte said. “He made a great play through the neutral zone, and I just kind of found the opening. He got it to me, and I just ripped it, and I was fortunate for it to go in. It was awesome.”
It was Turcotte’s first career NHL goal.
“It was obviously really exciting, and I kind of blacked out there for a little bit,” Turcotte said of scoring his first goal. “Just a big relief.”
Nashville dropped to 26-23-2.
“I loved our effort,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “I loved our game. I thought, besides those few little details that were missed out on, we did all the things that make us a good team. Unfortunately, we didn’t finish. I thought we created. I thought we played with a lot of pace. I thought we had the puck most of the game.”
The Predators were held off the board until Filip Forsberg scored at 5:15 of the third period to trim the deficit to 2-1..
“I think in the new year, we haven’t gotten the points that we’ve wanted,” Forsberg said. “There’s been games that we’ve left points on the board. But I think we’re finding our game. If somebody would’ve told me we would be in this spot before the season, I probably still would’ve liked to play for it because I like the talent that we have. But at the same time, we’re in the mix and we’re still growing.”
LA restored the two-goal lead on a strike by Lewis at 13:20.
Three minutes later Nashville’s Philip Tomasino cut it to 3-2 at 16:35.
LA sealed the 4-2 with at 18:54 when Kevin FIala hit an empty net.
Juuse Saros made 20 saves in the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.