The Los Angeles Kings are starting to make some believers,
but one couldn't fault the Nashville Predators if they're still skeptical of
that team's excellent start to this campaign.
Nashville hopes last season's mastery of the Kings can carry over when the two
clubs face off for the first time in 2009-10 this afternoon at the Staples
Center.
Los Angeles, which hasn't reached the playoffs since 2001-02, has been one of
the pleasant surprises in the early portion of this season. The upstart Kings
have posted a strong 10-4-2 record thus far and have recorded a point in eight
consecutive contests, having gone 6-0-2 over that stretch.
The Kings' most impressive performance to date may have come in their last
outing, when the team handed the reigning Pittsburgh Penguins a 5-2 defeat at
the Staples Center on Thursday. That noteworthy win followed up Monday's 5-3
road decision over a Phoenix squad that has also been playing well this year.
Anze Kopitar led the way in Thursday's triumph with a pair of goals, giving
the Slovenian star a league-best 26 points on the season. Kopitar has lit the
lamp 13 times in Los Angeles' first 16 games, a number that trails only
Washington's Alex Ovechkin for tops in the NHL.
Dustin Brown and Jarret Stoll each added a goal and an assist for Los Angeles
to back a 21-save effort from goaltender Jonathan Quick, The Kings outshot the
powerful Penguins, who entered the game with a 7-0-0 record on the road, by a
32-23 margin.
"We were doing some really good stuff in the second period and we outshot them
by a lot," said Kopitar. "That just shows our character; sticking with it and
not giving up. That is what the team is made of. We just kept pouring it on
and putting shots on net."
The Predators haven't been as successful as their opponent in the early going,
but they've had the Kings' number in recent years. Nashville has won six of
the last seven games in this series, including all four meetings in 2008-09,
and has left with a victory in three straight and five of its six most recent
visits to the Staples Center.
Nashville closed out the month of October with three straight wins, but began
this current four-game road trip with a 4-0 loss to Anaheim on Thursday. It's
the fourth time already this season that the Predators, who rank last in the
NHL with 27 goals, have been shut out.
The Preds were down only 1-0 after two periods, but the Ducks scored three
times in the game's final 12 minutes to pull away. Pekka Rinne finished with
27 saves for Nashville in defeat.
"I thought after two periods, we were the better of the two teams," said
Predators head coach Barry Trotz. "We couldn't capitalize on our power-play
chances. The second goal (of the third period) really ripped us open, those
back-to-back goals. It's tough to swallow a little bit sometimes."
Nashville, which will also visit San Jose and St. Louis on this trek, is 3-4-1
as the visitor so far this season.
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