Nashville Predators (8-4-5, 21 pts.) vs. Los Angeles Kings (5-8-2, 12 pts.)
9 p.m. CT | Crypto.com Arena
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: 102.5 The Game, Preds Radio Network
Live Stats: GameCenter
...
A five-game road trip begins tonight for the Nashville Predators as they meet the Los Angeles Kings for a 9 p.m. CT puck drop at Crypto.com Arena. This evening’s contest is the first of three meetings between the two clubs this season; the Preds will host the Kings twice this winter.
Tonight's game starts a back-to-back set for the Predators in Southern California, and they’ve arrived in the Golden State on a four-game win streak, including a victory over St. Louis on Saturday. The Preds will face a Kings team that has alternated wins and losses in their last eight outings, including a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Penguins on Saturday.
The Predators recorded wins over Tampa Bay, Carolina, Colorado and St. Louis over the past 10 days, and they feel their game is rounding into form. Now, they’d love to keep building away from home.
“Confidence in any aspect of life is something that you strive for,” Preds forward Steven Stamkos said following Saturday’s win. “It's hard to get and easy to lose sometimes. When you have it, you just try to keep that snowball rolling. It's contagious; you could tell in the room, whether it's the amazing goaltending, the special teams, the D, the forwards, everyone is doing their job, right? Everyone has a role on this team, and they're doing their job. That's what really good teams have, and we feel we're a good team.”
“Vibes are high,” Preds winger Ross Colton said. “We’ve got to keep building. [Stamkos] has been preaching it…and it's a special group of guys in here, and we all want to win. That's one thing, we're going to bring it every night. The energy is always there. And again, we have a tough road trip coming up here. It was nice to stack some points, build some vibes before we go on a little bit of a long road trip here.”
The Predators returned to practice on Monday in Nashville before heading west. Jonathan Marchessault was on the ice but remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Last Time Out:
Stamkos, Colton and Nick Perbix scored in Nashville’s 3-1 triumph over the Blues, and Juuse Saros made 25 saves in net, a stat that helped him earn NHL Third Star of the Week honors yesterday.
Stamkos’ goal came on the power play - the 248th PPG of his career - and allowed him to take sole possession of fifth place in NHL history in the category.
Per NHL Stats, Stamkos also scored his 130th career game-tying goal and surpassed Jaromir Jagr for the fifth most in NHL history behind Alex Ovechkin (155), Wayne Gretzky (139), Dave Andreychuk (137) and Joe Sakic (132).
Roman Josi (2a) collected two assists and moved within one point of 800 in his career (205g-594a-799pts in 1,047 GP). He can become the first Swiss player and the fifth defenseman born outside North America to reach the milestone.
All-Time Meetings:
The Preds are 46-30-(3)-11 all-time against the Kings, including a 26-13-(0)-8 mark on the road. Nashville is 6-2-2 in the last 10 versus Los Angeles and 3-0-2 in the last five meetings in L.A.
Predators Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Rob Blake served as Kings GM from 2017-25. He played 805 games for Los Angeles from 1989-01, winning the Norris Trophy in 1997-98.
Kings forward Kevin Fiala recorded 97 points (45g-52a) in 204 games with the Predators from 2015-19.
Overall, the Predators have lost only five times in regulation to the Kings in their last 33 meetings (21-5-7). Since losing the regular-season series in 2016-17 to the Kings, the Predators have won seven of the nine series.
Nashville Notables:
The Predators’ power play ranks fourth in the NHL, operating at 29.8 percent (17-for-57). Steven Stamkos (6), Ryan O’Reilly (4), Filip Forsberg (3), Jonathan Marchessault (2) and Nils Hoglander (1) have scored for Nashville on the man advantage.
The penalty kill ranks third in the League (88.5 percent); Nashville and Toronto are the only teams in the League with both special team units in the top five of each category.
Milestone Watch:
Roman Josi is one point from 800 in his NHL career. Josi (205) is four goals from passing Larry Robinson (208) and tying Zdeno Chara (209) for the 23rd-most among defensemen in NHL history.
Watch & Listen:
Tonight’s game from Los Angeles will be shown exclusively on ESPN+. Click here for more information on streaming and viewing options.
Fans may also listen on 102.5 The Game and the Preds Radio Network.
