In Los Angeles Saturday night, Austin Watson struck twice in a 4-3 win for the visiting Nashville Predators over the Kings.
The win snapped a two-game skid for the Preds who have been mired in a funk for a couple of weeks.
Pekka Rinne made 26 saves to defeat the Kings Saturday, 4-3 – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Adrian Kempe, Trevor Lewis and Tyler Toffoli picked up goals in the LA loss.
The Kings tried valiantly to cut the lead down in the third, twice getting within a goal, but Nashville persisted.
“They’re not going to go away,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said. “There’s a reason why they sit where they sit in the standings, and we knew that.”
Pekka Rinne made 26 saves as he broke out of personal slump with a solid effort.
Watson picked up the game-winner in the third when made the 4-2 after the Kings closed within one the first time in the period.
“He got rewarded tonight, going to the hard areas,” Laviolette said of Watson. “He does a lot of the dirty work for us, so it was nice to see him chip in offensively.”
Roman Josi and Scott Hartnell also scored for the Predators.
Josi’s goal came as the Kings killed off a 5-on-3 penalty but were left with a short one-man penalty to kill.
“Unfortunately, they scored right at the end of it, which killed the effort on the 5-on-3 because they still got a goal out of that,” LA head coach John Stevens said. “You don’t want to get in a hole against that team because they check really well, and I thought that probably wasn’t the best way to start the first period.”
Nashville improved to 24-11-6 with the win.
“When we put our minds to it, we’re a tough team to play against, and kudos to them over there. They’re a really good veteran team with a lot of great players, and they’ve been there and done that. They’ve won Stanley Cups. They know how to win hockey games,” Watson said after his two-goal effort.
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Kings highlights]
In a low shooting affair, Jonathan Quick made just 16 saves in taking the loss.
“Probably the most exciting thing about this group is they have a way to stick around in hockey games,” Stevens said.
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