LOS ANGELES – It was a wild one at Staples Center on Saturday afternoon as the Los Angeles Kings rallied from down three goals in the final two minutes of regulation only to lose in overtime 7-6 to the Nashville Predators.
“Anytime we are giving up seven goals we are not playing the way we want to play,” said Kings captain Dustin Brown after the game. “We’ve been saying we need to be more consistent, and we have to stop talking about being consistent and start being consistent.”
Roman Josi, scored just 18 seconds into the overtime to break the hearts of the Kings and their fans who had thought that Los Angeles had stolen the momentum away after scoring three goals in the final two minutes to the tie the game.
“I gave it to Flip [Forsberg] and he made a real patient play, made a great play to me and I had a lot of space, lots of time, it was a good thing it went in,” said Josi about his game-winning goal.
The Kings got on the board first 30 seconds into the opening period when Matt Greene scored from the blue line on a puck that skipped past Predators goalie, Pekka Rinne.
Nashville would respond in commanding fashion scoring five unanswered goals over the next 20 minutes of ice time. The Kings rallied at the end of the second period with back-to-back goals by Alec Martinez and Dwight King, only to surrender a sixth goal to open up the third period.
Mike Fisher, Colin Wilson, Ryan Ellis, Mattias Ekholm, Mark Arcobello, and Olli Jokinen all scored for the Predators who have now won two consecutive games against the Kings this season. Shea Weber recorded his 234th career assist extending his franchise record for defenseman.
Pekka Rinne was not his usual dominant self, but his six goals allowed and 24 saves were enough to earn the Finnish goalie his 24th win of the season.
“When it is 6-3 you expect your team to win when you have a game like that, when you have six goals against the LA Kings,” said Rinne about the game. “I’m happy with the win, but it’s a crazy game obviously. I was pissed, I was really disappointed. I couldn’t believe what happened at the end there. Obviously things like that; you know there is still a chance for the win.”
Jonathan Quick allowed three goals on nine shots before being pulled midway through the first period for Martin Jones who gave up four goals the rest of the way including the game-winner in overtime.
Dwight King, Alec Martinez and Jeff Carter each scored during the Kings final flurry and despite the loss salvaged an important point by sending the game into overtime. King started the rally with his second goal of the night after a rebound bounced off Rinne and fell in front of the net. Martinez found the crease less than a minute later on a 55-foot slap shot. Carter completed the comeback after the Kings pulled Jones with 34 seconds left.
The matchup showcased two of the league’s top teams and arguably the best two defensive teams. The offensive shooting spree however, was not indicative of each squad’s elite defense and the 7-6 final score shocked most hockey experts.
“Both teams are good checking teams, but Nashville is a step ahead of us in all that. Their defense is an elite defense,” said LA Kings coach, Darryl Sutter. “I told our players several times tonight that it would take seven goals to win I was right.”
The Predators now move into second place over the idle Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference and by salvaging a point, the Kings move into a tie for fourth place with the St. Louis Blues.
Game Notes:
Nashville has now won two consecutive games against the defending Stanley Cup Champions and defeated the Kings 4-3 in a shootout in Tennessee on November 25th. The Kings kicked off a seven-game home stand on Saturday.
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