Roman Josi
Roman Josi scored the game-winner for the second consecutive outing, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Los Angeles Kings by a 2-1 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena.
It’s Nashville’s second-straight win overall, and with the two points in the standings, the team is back in first place in the Central Division – one point ahead of the Winnipeg Jets.
Kyle Turris also scored on the evening – a power-play goal to give Nashville the all important first lead against a Los Angeles team that had lost five straight entering the night. The Preds were expecting a tight-checking affair, and that’s exactly what they got, with Pekka Rinne and his mates only allowing L.A. a little life 50 minutes into the contest before shutting them down once more.
“Getting the first goal was good,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We played two really strong periods in the first and second. The chances were where we wanted them to be. We had some good looks, and the game was just tight. Their goaltender played well. They’re a good defensive team, they have good structures, and we just stuck with it.”
“It’s a big win,” Rinne said. “I think all-in-all, it was a great effort. We had to lock it down in the third and I thought that we did. We didn’t give up a lot of chances. They ended up hitting the post right at the end there but other than that, we did a really good job.”
Turris had a new face on his line with Viktor Arvidsson jumping onto his wing, while Kevin Fiala moved up with Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen. Laviolette stated postgame that making the switch allowed him to get a look at some combos that hadn’t been tried yet, and in particular, Turris saw the benefits.
“He was one of our most noticeable players with his speed and the offense he brought to the game,” Laviolette said of Turris. “Viktor Arvidsson jumping down there did a good job. He had a good game. To me, that line was quick and pretty good. Kyle played a strong game for us.”
The Predators converted on their first power-play opportunity of the evening, and it was Turris who one-timed home his first goal since returning from injury on Feb. 7. The tally gave the Preds a 1-0 advantage through 20 minutes, and early in the second, the captain scored again.
Two nights after Josi potted two in Dallas, he struck at 46 seconds of the middle stanza when he roofed a shot past Jonathan Quick to give his club a two-goal lead.
It was Josi’s 12th multi-point outing of the season, and with a helper on Turris’s goal, he recorded his 50th point of the season to become the first defenseman in Predators franchise history to record at least 50 points in four separate seasons.
“It was a pretty complete game,” Josi said. “We talked about having some consistency and having a couple good games in a row. I thought we played two good games, and now we have to focus on the next one and do it again.”
Michael Amadio broke Rinne’s shutout midway through the third, but that was as close as the Kings came, with the Nashville netminder stopping 28 of 29 shots he faced on the evening.
The Predators started the week with a 5-3 win in Dallas on Tuesday night, and from the time that game ended until this one began, the key word was consistency. Nashville wanted nothing more than to follow that victory up with another solid outing, and they were ready to go from the start.
“We talked about the speed a lot, but you have to have that,” Rinne said. “Every team in the League nowadays play a fast game. We had that, and I thought we came out really well, played with that quickness and physical play. We talked about following up from the Dallas game. It’s nice to win two in a row, and hopefully we can start making some noise and put a streak together.”
The effort was good enough to vault them back atop their division, and while that placement could come to an end as early as Friday night, the view is still a desirable one, another taste of where they’d like to be when the regular season is all said and done.
“It’s such a good division,” Josi said. “You always want to move up on the leaderboard. Obviously, we’ve got some games ahead, but for now we’re in first and we’re going to play hard to stay there.”
Notes:
Prior to Thursday’s game, the Predators placed forward Craig Smith on Injured Reserve with a lower-body injury. The team also recalled forward Tyler Gaudet from Milwaukee of the AHL.
Yannick Weber, Frederick Gaudreau and Gaudet were scratched on Thursday.
Overall, the Preds have only lost once in regulation to the Kings in their last 17 meetings (10-1-6), with Nashville winning five straight from Nov. 2, 2013 to March 14, 2015.
At home, Nashville has earned a point in nine of its last 10 contests vs. Los Angeles (7-1-2).
Nashville’s three-game homestand continues on Saturday afternoon when the Colorado Avalanche come to town for a special 4:30 p.m. (CT) puck drop at Bridgestone Arena. The NHL Trade Deadline then hits on Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. before the Preds host the Edmonton Oilers later that evening.
Monday was scheduled to be the first day of the spring sports season for the Coffee County Middle School baseball and softball teams. The Raider teams were set to travel to Sparta to take on White County. Those games have been postponed and the make-up dates are to be determined.
