Kings beat Predators to snap 4-game skid
Alex Turcotte had his first NHL goal and assist and the Kings beat the Nashville Predators 4-2 on Wednesday night to snap a four-game skid in the final game for both teams before the NHL All-Star break.
Playing his second NHL game of the season and 14th overall, Turcotte — the fifth overall pick in 2019 — made it 2-0 in the second period and had an assist on Trevor Lewis' goal with 6:39 left. Turcotte said the goal was so exciting he kind of “blacked out” for a bit.
“Just a big relief. It was all Mooresey,” Turcotte said about Trevor Moore's assist. “He made a great play through the neutral zone, and I just kind of found the opening. It got to me and just ripped it. I was fortunate for it to go in. It was awesome.”
It was just the third win in 17 games for Los Angeles, and coach Todd McLellan, whose job security has been questioned, noted his Kings haven't quit.
“We still have a long way to go get our game back, but to go into the break feeling a little bit good about ourselves is a real good thing,” McLellan said.
NASHVILLE, TENN. >>
THE SCORE
KINGS 4, PREDATORS 2 Up next: Oilers at Kings, Feb. 10, 7 p.m., BSW, NHLN
SUMMARY
Kings Nashville
First Period:
1, Kings, Grundstrom 8, 8:51. Penalties: Roy, LA (Slashing), 18:59.
2, Kings, Turcotte 1 (Spence, Moore), 5:36. Penalties: Fabbro, NSH (Holding), 3:25.
3, Nashville, Forsberg 24 (Nyquist, McDonagh), 5:15. 4, Kings, Lewis 6 (Turcotte, Byfield), 13:20. 5, Nashville, Tomasino 7 (Josi, Novak), 16:35. 6, Kings, Fiala 13 (Danault, Anderson), 18:51 (en). Penalties: Doughty, LA (Interference), 2:51. Dubois, LA (Hooking), 6:14. O'Reilly, NSH (High Sticking), 6:31. Fiala, LA (Holding), 7:45.
Kings 11-10-3: 24. Nashville 14-9-18: 41;
KIngs 0 of 1. Nashville 0 of 4; KIngs, Rittich 5-1-3 (41 shots-39 saves). Nashville, Saros 19-19-2 (23-20). 17,453 (17,113). T: 2:24.
Peter MacDougall, Furman South. Linesmen: Devin Berg, Julien Fournier.
Second Period:
Third Period:
Shots on goal:
Goalies:
A: Referees: 1 0 1 0 2 — 4 2 — 2
Power-play opportunities:
Dave Rittich, who played 17 games for Nashville in the 2021-22 season, made 38 saves to improve to 5-1-3.
Carl Grundstrom also scored and Kevin Fiala added an empty-netter.
Filip Forsberg tried to rally Nashville with his 24th goal of the season at 5:15 of the third. Philip Tomasino scored his seventh with 3:24 to go, pulling the Preds to 3-2. Nashville snapped a six-game home points streak against the Kings.
Nashville didn't seem to be the team for the Kings to beat with the Predators taking the first game in Los Angeles on Jan. 18. Nashville had won 12 of 15 between the teams, losing only three times in regulation in the last 27 games going 17-3-7 coming in.
The Kings gave themselves some breathing room with two crucial points after coming in holding the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, tied with St. Louis and Nashville with 54 points. Nashville has lost three straight (0-2-1), and the Predators didn't help themselves going 0-4 on the man advantage.
Nashville coach Andrew Brunette thinks the Predators are close after playing six of their last eight on the road and just need to keep knocking on the door.
“We're really kicking the crap out of it,” Brunette said. “It just hasn't opened.”
Grunderson put the Kings up with his eighth goal this season, a wrister over Juuse Saros' glove into the far corner at 8:51 of the first period.
Then Turcotte scored at 5:36 on a wrister as he skated through the left circle and put the puck over Saros' glove putting the Kings up 2-0. Trevor Lewis broke away from the celebration quickly to grab the puck for Turcotte.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PACIFIC DIVISION
Vancouver Vegas Edmonton Kings Seattle Calgary Ducks
San Jose
Colorado Dallas Winnipeg St. Louis Nashville Arizona Minnesota Chicago
Boston Florida Tampa Bay Toronto Detroit Buffalo Montreal Ottawa
N.Y. Rangers Carolina Philadelphia N.Y. Islanders Pittsburgh New Jersey Washington Columbus
GP W
49 33 50 29 45 29 48 23 50 21 49 22 50 18 51 14
CENTRAL DIVISION
GP W
49 32 49 30 47 30 49 26 51 26 48 23 49 21 50 14
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
GP W
49 49 50 47 50 49 49 47
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
GP W
49 30 48 28 50 25 49 20 46 22 47 24 47 22 50 16
Wednesday's results
Kings 4, Nashville 2 Ducks 3, San Jose 2, OT Ottawa 3, Detroit 2, OT
Today's games
31 31 27 25 26 22 20 20
No games scheduled
NHL LEADERS
Through Wednesday
GOAL SCORING
Name
Auston Matthews Sam Reinhart David Pastrnak Nikita Kucherov N. MacKinnon Brock Boeser Zach Hyman Artemi Panarin Sidney Crosby
L OT Pts GF GA
11 15 15 15 19 22 30 32 9 14 18 14 18 23 21 25 16 15 19 17 17 20 18 24 5 6 1 10 10 5 2 5 9 4 5 8 6 4 8 2 3 5 6 12 7 3 7 10 71 186 127 64 163 138 59 160 124 56 152 132 52 140 147 49 149 155 38 129 170 33 102 199
L OT Pts GF GA
14 13 12 21 23 22 23 34
L OT Pts GF GA
L OT Pts GF GA
Team
TOR FLA BOS TBL COL VAN EDM NYR PIT 3 6 5 2 2 3 5 2 67 190 153 66 183 151 65 148 109 54 141 153 54 153 160 49 143 147 47 149 166 30 105 177 71 173 128 66 158 127 59 175 164 58 166 150 58 176 161 48 146 155 48 136 175 42 158 170 63 161 142 61 163 144 56 147 148 52 143 166 51 138 126 51 161 168 51 115 146 42 148 184