LOS ANGELES –– The Kings failed to stay perched atop the Pacific Division Saturday when they fell to the Nashville Predators 2-1 at Crypto.com Arena in a shootout that concluded a plucky match marred by poor ice conditions.
They played their first of seven straight home games and finished the night trailing the Vegas Golden Knights by one point, with Vegas holding a game in hand after they shut out the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 Saturday. The Kings had won a season-best five straight games heading into the showdown with Nashville.
Defenseman Mikey Anderson scored the Kings’ lone goal through 65 minutes. Pheonix Copley made 29 saves.
The Kings were without leading scorer Kevin Fiala (lower-body) and defenseman Sean Durzi (upper-body). Fiala absorbed a knee-on-knee collision with Colorado forward Andrew Cogliano Thursday, limiting his participation in the Kings’ victory and ruling him out Saturday. Durzi received a massive check from Washington winger T.J. Oshie on Monday and has not played since.
Center Tommy Novak tallied for Nashville in regulation before forward Matt Duchene deposited the solitary goal of the shootout. Kevin Lankinen stopped 26 shots.
There was a lack of fluidity in the contest Saturday, as another humid game day and a Clippers matinee did not contribute favorably to the ice conditions.
“These are pretty talented people, on both teams, and you carry around that frustration because you can’t connect one pass to the other because the surface you’re playing on is as bad as it was tonight,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.
In overtime, Nashville forward Phillip Tomasino had a sterling chance but he missed the puck not once but twice as he attempted to stickhandle into a shot during a partial breakaway. Tomasino would also hit the net with a shot as time was expiring, but Copley met the challenge.
With 2:37 to play, forward Quinton Byfield drew a penalty on winger Yakov Trenin, but the Kings failed to convert on the ensuing power-play opportunity. Though it was their best two minutes of the night with the extra man, it extended a stretch that has seen the Kings’ formidable power play go zero for its last 12 across the past three games.
“It was difficult out there tonight, I don’t know what to say,” winger Adrian Kempe said. “Nothing with the structure or anything, it just didn’t bounce our way, it didn’t feel good out there in general. It was just difficult, a little frustrating.”
With 6:40 left in the match, Kempe’s roughing penalty sent Nashville to the power play in a tie game. Nashville attempted seven shots during their man advantage, two of which went wide, one of which was blocked by defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and four of which were denied by Copley.
The two teams were knotted at one through two periods, despite some near misses for the Kings. Perhaps the closest call was winger Viktor Arvidsson’s shot that got under and through Lankinen. The Kings’ top line produced just one shot on goal through the second intermission.
Nashville had leveled the score with 55 seconds remaining in the opening frame. They scored just four seconds into a power play that saw them win the draw straight back to Novak for a marker from the point. Nashville and the Kings are tied for the fourth most power-play goals in the NHL over the past month, despite the Kings’ recent struggles and Nashville’s poor performance in its loss to the Arizona Coyotes Thursday.
“It was just a good draw win. It kind of felt like my only option was to throw it at the net. It was a good screen by Cody (Glass), and luckily it went in,” Novak said. “We struggled against Arizona, going 0-for-6 there. Getting that goal was huge for us, obviously, it was the only one we got.”
Approaching the midpoint of the first period, the Kings had struck first when an offensive-zone start proved fortuitous for them, too. Off a scrambled draw, three Kings forwards and all five Nashville defenders vied for the puck. Winger Gabe Vilardi slid it across to Anderson, who had crept down from the left point to the slot to score his fourth goal of the season and his second in three games.
“He just seems more confident. He knows his game defensively and he seems to be jumping up more offensively,” said defenseman Matt Roy of Anderson.