Filip Forsberg notched a goal and an assist and Juuse Saros made a season-high 46 saves as the surging Nashville Predators won their third in a row, 4-2 over the host Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
Matt Duchene, ex-King Matt Luff and Yakov Trenin also scored while Roman Josi recorded two assists for the Central Division-leading Predators, who are 10-1-1 in their last 12 games. The team leader with 18 goals, Forsberg has scored four times over the last three games. Saros, meanwhile, stopped 20 of 21 shots he faced in the third period to post his 18th victory.
Dustin Brown and Martin Frk had goals and Jonathan Quick made 16 saves for the Kings, who were back in action for the first time since New Year’s Day. Los Angeles entered this contest on a 6-2-1 overall stretch and had won four of five at home.
However, Forsberg and the Predators wasted no time getting on the board just 3:49 into the game. On the power play, Forsberg played the puck off the near boards and skated untouched to the middle of the circle, then unleashed a laser that was too hard and high for Quick to handle.
The Predators — outshot 13-6 through the first 20 minutes — made it 2-0 with 59 seconds remaining in the opening frame. Again with the man advantage, Duchene crashed his way to the net with the puck and beat Quick for his 14th goal of the season.
Not even three minutes into the second period, Nashville extended its lead when Luff, who spent the previous three seasons with Los Angeles, put home a rebound from his own shot for his first goal of 2021-22. Saros, meanwhile, made his biggest stop of the night shortly after, when he rather easily stopped Adrian Kempe’s penalty shot with 14:54 left in the second.
However, Saros was unable to stop Brown’s breakaway with 10:23 left in the second period that made it a 3-1 contest. Frk’s blast from the point on the power play with 9:27 left in regulation made things interesting, but Saros stepped up and Trenin added an empty-netter.
–Field Level Media