The Nashville Predators will try to continue their climb up the Central Division standings when they host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night.
Since starting the season with five straight losses, the Predators have rebounded by earning at least a point in five of their last six games. Coach Andrew Brunette’s team has won four of those games, including a 5-2 home victory Saturday over the Colorado Avalanche.
Nashville scored twice on the power play Saturday and iced the game with two empty-netters in the final 1:14. The five-goal outburst marked a season-best for a team averaging just 2.64 goals per game.
Colton Sissons also finally broke through with a second-period goal that was the first point of the season for the 11-year veteran who recorded 35 last season.
Sissons, who has played his entire career in Nashville, is better known for his defense, though. Brunette said he has continued to be a key player for the Predators even during his early-season slump.
“He can go against anybody,” Brunette told reporters after Saturday’s victory. “You got trust going against (Avalanche center and reigning Hart Trophy winner Nathan) MacKinnon. He’s just a quiet leader that brings it every day.”
Los Angeles comes into Music City with just one win in its last three games. The Kings seemed on the verge of winning their home game Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks. However, Chicago’s Tyler Bertuzzi scored the tying goal with 31 seconds remaining in regulation, and the Blackhawks pulled out a 4-3 shootout victory.
Despite giving up the late goal and losing 3-2 in the shootout, Kings coach Jim Hiller thought his team lost the game in the last half of the first period, even though his team took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
“We were all open for the first 10 (minutes), and I thought if we would have continued to play the second 10 of the first the way we played the first 10 of the first, we might have been able to create separation and not put ourselves in the position that we had,” Hiller told reporters after the game.
Alex Laferriere comes into Monday’s game with a hot stick. The Kings’ 23-year-old right wing scored twice in the loss and has goals in each of his last three games. The second-year pro from Harvard has eight goals and 11 points in a dozen games after recording 12 goals and 23 points as a rookie in 81 games.
Monday’s matchup features the NHL’s best penalty-killing unit going up against a team struggling to score with the man advantage.
The Kings have scored power-play goals in three of their last four games, but they have cashed in on just 16.7 percent of their chances this season. In addition, since going 3-for-5 with the advantage against Ottawa on Oct. 14, the Kings have found the net only three times in 27 opportunities. Even during their current stretch, they went 0-for-6 in their 4-2 loss last Tuesday at San Jose.
Meanwhile, the Predators’ penalty-killing unit is tied with the New York Rangers as tops in the league at 91.2 percent, preventing opponents from scoring on 31 of 34 chances through 11 games.
