Playing in the first half of a road back-to-back, the Kings showed out with one of their most complete games this season. Blanking the Nashville Predators 3-0, the Kings limited the Predators to just 16 shots on the night and improve their record to 7-3-3 on the season.
The Kings opened with a strong first road period, establishing their speed and forecheck. In a period where the Kings doubled up the Predators in shots 12-6, they also took the lead just past the halfway point of the period. Coming on a heads-up play, the speed of Adrian Kempe created a takeaway in the Predators defensive zone, who then found an open Brandt Clarke. Clarke quickly ripped a shot on goal and the rebound bounced to an open Anze Kopitar on the backdoor side. Kopitar was unable to redirect the puck back on net, but gathered the puck behind the goal line and took advantage of an aggressive Juuse Saros that found himself out of his net. Kopitar promptly banked the puck off of Saros’ back and into the net for a 1-0 Kings lead. Clarke’s assist gives him 11 helpers on the season, which ranks third in the NHL among defensemen trailing only Colorado’s Cale Makar (16) and Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey (13). Also worth noting, Kopitar’s goal was the 70th game-opening goal of his career, surpassing Luc Robitaille’s 69 and tying Marcel Dionne’s franchise record 70 game-opening goals.
The second period went scoreless and a solid effort by Darcy Kuemper kept the Kings ahead in a period where the Kings were outshot 7-3.
The Kings then added to their lead early in the third period to make it 2-0. Coming just 35 seconds in, the Kings disrupted another Predators clearing attempt and Kevin Fiala fed Phillip Danault for a weak-side one-timer that resulted in an immediate rebound back to Fiala for the goal. With the goal, Fiala extended his point streak to four games (2-4=6). A strong night for the Kings penalty kill came up big throughout the night, killing off three Predators power plays and an empty net goal from Kempe sealed the victory in the game’s final minute.
Kuemper stopped all 16 shots faced and continues to remain unbeaten in regulation, now 4-0-3.
