Pearson OT goal lifts Kings

NASHVILLE -- Tanner Pearson scored 1:18 into overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 2-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.
Pearson received the pass from defenseman Alec Martinez and took a shot from the slot that beat Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne for his eighth goal.

"I knew [forward Jeff Carter] and [defensemen Drew Doughty] had been out there for a while, so I wanted to just hold it so they could get a change," Pearson said. "The key thing is have possession in [overtime] as much as possible, and we were able to do that and create a chance up the ice. [Forward Nicholas Shore] drove to the net pretty well and pushed the [defensemen] back, and I was able to get a shot off."
Los Angeles (34-20-4) went 3-3-1 on its seven-game road trip and is 19-10-3 on the road.
"Long road trip," Kings forward Milan Lucic said. "Nice to finish it off with a win to get to .500 on the road trip. Obviously I think we left a couple of points on the table if you look at the road trip as a whole, just not being able to capitalize on chances and getting go-ahead goals and things like that. I thought as a whole, we competed really hard in all of the seven games. You take away probably the first period against the [New York Islanders], pretty good road trip as far as the competitiveness goes.
"Today, they pushed us hard. They're a really good hockey team. Just nice that we were able to get a big win here tonight."

Los Angeles took six penalties and allowed one goal on the penalty kill. The players credited the penalty kill and goaltender Jonathan Quick as keys to the win.
"That seemed to be a theme this whole road trip, on the kill," Lucic said. "We definitely didn't do ourselves a favor by taking all of the penalties that we did on this road trip, and especially here tonight. I think if you look at this game as a whole, you've definitely got to credit the [penalty kill] and [Quick], who was probably our best [penalty killer] out there. Sometimes that's what it takes to win is a good penalty kill, and it was able to get the job done tonight."
Jake Muzzin gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 15:57 of the first period on a wrist shot from the point. He took the pass from forward Dwight King and shot it through traffic past Rinne for his seventh goal.
"Just a faceoff win walk," Muzzin said. "Just trying to get a puck to the net, and it found its way in. That's about it. The guys did a great job getting in front and causing some screens and havoc there, and it just found its way in."

Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis tied it 1-1 on the power play with 26.6 seconds remaining in the first. Forward James Neal took the original shot that was stopped by Quick, but Ellis got to the rebound.
"I thought it was a great hockey game, back and forth, two teams working really hard," Predators center Ryan Johansen said. "Maybe we deserved a little bit better of a fate. We had a couple of chances, just a couple of unlucky bounces, but both goalies were awesome. [Rinne] was awesome. It was a good hockey game. It's too bad we couldn't have found a way to win this before going on the road."
The Predators are 1-10 in games decided in 3-on-3 overtime.
"It's unfortunate," Ellis said. "They're trying to win too. It's not from a lack of effort. I think at times we are complacent and other times, I mean, teams are just making good shots. That's part of the game."

Quick made 33 saves; Rinne had 28.
Predators defenseman Barret Jackman left the game in the second period after falling into the boards in a battle for the puck. He did not return. The Predators said that Jackman would be evaluated and his status would be updated Sunday.
Kings center Anze Kopitar missed the game because of a lower-body injury. He left a 2-1 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday after the first period and is day-to-day.
"With him in out of the lineup, throughout our whole lineup I thought we played well as a group today," Pearson said. "It showed for the long run, and we were able to get the win to finish off the road trip."
Los Angeles will host the Calgary Flames on Tuesday; Nashville will play at the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.