Jarnkrok Tallies Hat Trick as Record Crowd Sees Preds Beat Kings

There's no place like home. Especially with hats on the ice.
Calle Jarnkrok recorded his first-career hat trick, and the Nashville Predators came back to defeat the Los Angeles Kings by a 5-3 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result breaks a three-game winless streak for the Preds and gives them their 14th victory of the season, tied for the most wins in the NHL.
Although the Preds fell to Arizona in their last game, the effort was there, and the hope was to build off it after returning to Nashville from a five-game trip. With a pair of power-play goals and 43 shots on the net, that's exactly what happened.
And Jarnkrok added the exclamation point.

"It was nice," Jarnkrok said of his hat trick, "especially to get a win here following up a couple tough losses on the road."
"We played relatively the same game as we did in Arizona - just relentless," Preds defenseman Ryan Ellis said. "We just kept going and going offensively, putting pucks at the net. The shots attempts were there and they went in for us tonight."
After a scoreless first period, the floodgates opened in the middle frame with the two teams combining for five goals in the 20 minutes. Kyle Turris gave Nashville a 1-0 lead when he struck on the power play, a welcome relief for a group that has struggled with the man advantage this season.

The Kings got two within 19 seconds to take their first lead of the evening less than six minutes to play into the second. Jarnkrok evened the score when he sniped home his fourth of the season, but Los Angeles countered once more on a goal from Alex Iafallo for a 3-2 advantage after 40 minutes.
Nashville's power play came through once more in the third as Jarnkrok picked a corner to knot things up at 3-3, and then, on a shorthanded rush, the Swede found twine for the third time. The marker gave the Preds the last lead they'd need as the ice surface became littered with lids from a record sellout crowd of 17,627 at Bridgestone Arena.
"He's an important player in here, whether it's offensively or defensively," Ellis said of Jarnkrok. "You put him out on the power play and he shows what he can do. He got us going when we needed it - big goals from him."
Not just one, but two tallies with the man advantage helped to give the Preds some hope that their power-play prowess may be coming back to life. The group has been pleased with the looks and chances they've been getting as of late with the extra skater, and on Saturday, they finally started to fall.
"You're starting to wonder if it's just not going to work for you for a little bit here," Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. "I have to give our guys in the room a lot of credit because we fell behind a few times, but we just stayed persistent and consistent with our game and didn't stop."
With that, the Preds put on a show for the Loyal Legion, and just like their hockey club, they were at their best on Saturday night - and it didn't go unnoticed.
"They were awesome," Laviolette said. "I think they missed us. We sure missed them."

Calle Me Maybe?
Even-strength. Power play. Shorthanded.
It was a full variety pack on Saturday night for Calle Jarnkrok. The second player in Predators history to record a hat trick with three different on-ice situations, Jarnkrok completed his first-career, three-goal game to get the Preds back into the win column and lead his club to a 5-3 victory over the Kings.
Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette often compliments Jarnkrok as one of the smartest players on his club. On Saturday, he showed he can be one of the more skilled participants as well.
"He played terrific," Laviolette said. "Forget about the goals, it's just the game in general. I thought he was really moving, he was competing, did an excellent job on his line, got a power play opportunity. He certainly did a good job at that as well. The shorthanded goal is a real big goal."
Whether he's noticed or not on a nightly basis, Jarnkrok can often be classified in an unsung hero category, doing whatever necessary to help his club be successful.
But every once in a while, No. 19 makes sure everyone knows his name. And that's just as important.
"He had three gorgeous shots that were placed perfectly," Nashville center Kyle Turris said of Jarnkrok. "He played very well, and he is so fun to play with."

Notes:
Saturday's attendance of 17,627 set a hockey record at Bridgestone Arena.
Calle Jarnkrok is the seventh NHL player since 2013-14 to a hat trick that included a goal at even strength, shorthanded and on the power play.
The Predators continue their homestand on Monday night when the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town. Nashville then hosts the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.