Follow me on Twitter:
@BenShelley_20
Follow HockeyBuzz Kings on Twitter:
@HB_LAKings
The Los Angeles Kings came up short against the Nashville Predators tonight, falling 4-2.
Carl Grundstrom, Alex Iafallo, Alex Turcotte and Christian Wolanin were all out of the lineup in COVID protocol, while Jacob Moverare suited up with the Kings for his first NHL game, Martin Frk also drew into the lineup and Dustin Brown returned.
The Predators opened the scoring on an early power play, as Filip Forsberg walked down from the point and beat Jonathan Quick with a great shot over his shoulder. Despite giving up the first goal, the Kings responded for a really strong period overall, outshooting the Predators 13-6. However, the Predators capitalized on another power play late in the frame, as Matt Duchene made a nice move to cut inside and beat Quick to put the Nashville up 2-0.
Matt Luff increased the lead early in the second period with a goal against his former team, taking a pass from Michael McCarron and following up on his own rebound to score. Adrian Kempe then drew a penalty shot shortly after with a great chance to get Los Angeles on the board, but he was stopped by Juuse Saros on a deke.
Dustin Brown would get the game to 3-1 around the midway mark of the frame though, taking the puck off a turnover in the Kings’ end and going back the other way on a breakaway, deking out Saros. Los Angeles took over a bit after that and controlled some of the momentum but it remained 3-1 after 40 minutes.
After the Kings continued to press in the third period, Martin Frk scored on a power play midway through the frame, beating Saros with a well-placed shot.
However, despite the Kings firing 21 shots at Saros in the period, they weren’t able to tie it and Nashville buried an empty net goal to secure a 4-2 win.
The effort was certainly there for the Kings tonight, outshooting the Predators by a huge 48-20 margin. That said, going down three goals is a big hole to try and climb back from and while the Kings came close to battling back, getting burned with their penalty kill early hurt them.
There are certainly positives to draw from this one and Juuse Saros was excellent, as can be expected. Los Angeles had the momentum through a lot of the game but still came up just short.
The Kings’ next game comes on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Kings Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow
@HB_LAKings for updates on articles, Kings news, etc.***
SuperSurvey
OTHER ARTICLES FROM JANUARY
Kings continue to build momentum, beat Flyers 6-3 
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»