Game Day: Preds at Kings Preview

The Nashville Predators will try to go 3-for-3 in the new year as they continue their road trip tonight by facing the Kings in Los Angeles (9:30 p.m. CT). This evening's contest is the second of three meetings between the two clubs this season; the Preds picked up their first win of the campaign back in October when they topped the Kings at Bridgestone Arena.
After dropping a pair of games coming out of the holiday break, the Predators are winners of two straight, including a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night in Vegas to start their three-game trip out West. Filip Forsberg tallied twice on the night to give the Preds a lead atop the Central Division entering Wednesday's action, and the group was satisfied after getting back to their identity in the new year.

Some of the improvements that we wanted to make just with our checking game without the puck, I thought we did a good job," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said following Tuesday's win. "We were just a lot tighter and quicker when we didn't have the puck as a five-man unit. And then I thought offensively, we had some good looks. We knew tonight was going to be a real fast, physical game against a really good team, and I thought we were mentally and physically ready to play."
"I think the battle effort was there," Forsberg said. "I mean, we showed up right from the get-go and played hard. I don't know how many hits we ended up with, but it was a physical game; we obviously brought a lot of that to them, too. And I think that was the staple of our game tonight."

Predators defenseman Dante Fabbro missed his second straight game due to COVID protocol, but forward Tommy Novak returned to the active roster on Tuesday after being removed from the COVID list.
The Preds did not practice on Wednesday in Los Angeles, but they are expected to hold a morning skate today at Crypto.com Arena ahead of tonight's game.

The Good Guys:

In addition to Forsberg's contributions, Yakov Trenin also found the back of the net in his 100th career game, and goaltender Juuse Saros made 41 saves in net for his 17th win of the season.
Preds Captain Roman Josi (11g-19a) and forward Mikael Granlund (5g-25a) are tied for the team lead with 30 points apiece. They're followed by Matt Duchene (13g-16a) with 29 points, and then Forsberg (17g-10a) and Ryan Johansen (10g-17a) with 27 points each. Saros is 17-9-1 in net with a .927 save percentage.

The Opposition:

The Kings (16-12-5) have won three of their last four outings, including a 6-3 victory over Philadelphia to start the new year. Anze Kopitar (9g-20a) leads the team with 29 points, followed by Adrian Kempe (14g-6a) and Alex Iafallo (10g-10a) with 20 points apiece. Former Preds forward Viktor Arvidsson has eight goals and 18 points in 26 games with his new club. Jonathan Quick is 10-7-4 in net for the Kings this season.

All-Time Meetings:

The Predators are 38-27-(3)-8 all-time against the Kings, including a 21-12-(0)-6 record on the road. Nashville last played in Los Angeles on Jan. 4, 2020, a 4-1 victory.
Overall, the Predators have lost only twice in regulation to the Kings in their last 21 meetings (13-2-6), with Nashville having won eight of nine. The Predators are 6-1-3 against the Kings in their last 10 meetings in Los Angeles.

Notables Versus Los Angeles:

Matt Duchene is Nashville's active points leader against Los Angeles with 21 points (7g-14a) in 26 career games vs. the Kings, including multi-point efforts in two of his last three contests. Roman Josi has tallied 19 points (5g-14a) in 25 career games vs. the Kings, including eight points (1g-7a) in his last six meetings against Los Angeles.
Filip Forsberg has five points (1g-4a) in his last eight contests against Los Angeles, and nine points (2g-7a) in 19 career games vs. the Kings. He matched his career high for shots in a game for the third time with nine on Oct. 12, 2019, at Los Angeles.
Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson played in 387 games for Nashville from 2014-21, tallying 241 points (128g-113a). Arvidsson, who was selected by Nashville in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft, set the franchise's single-season goals record with 34 in 2018-19.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for tonight's 9:30 p.m. CT puck drop from Vegas begins at 9 p.m. CT with the Predators Live! pregame show on Bally Sports South. Willy Daunic, Hal Gill and Lyndsay Rowley have the call on the television side, while Pete Weber will broadcast on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. Pregame coverage on the radio begins at 8:30 p.m. with Darren McFarland. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country,
click here
.