The Nashville Predators continue their road trip, after a close and thrilling win against the Vegas Golden Knights, to face the Los Angeles Kings.
It’s been an up-and-down season for the Kings, who seem to be just coming back out of the “down” part. Preds fans won’t be able to see Viktor Arvidsson, who’s week-to-week with an injury, but there’s still plenty to watch in tonight’s game.
The team has combined great offense and defense at even strength with good goaltending and bad shooting luck. Adrian Kempe is the team’s leader in points, with 48, combining seconds in goals (19) and assists (29) for a greater whole. Kevin Fiala is the assists leader, with 30, and Trevor Moore the goals leader with 21. Anže Kopitar and Quinton Byfield are also consistent offensive contributors.
Backup David Rittich is having a great season in net for the Kings, putting up a .919 sv% on the season, while Cam Talbot has also done well as the starter with a .913. While the Kings’ penalty kill has been a lot more porous than their 5v5 defense, their lights-out goaltending has made it one of the more effective kills in the league–and some of that porousness may be related to the fact that they’ve scored double the league average of shorthanded goals: 10 so far.
It feels like there’s not a lot to say about the Kings that hasn’t already been said at this point. They’re a good team, as they have been for years; they’re recovering from a run of bad luck that threatened their place in the standings, but will probably make the postseason anyway.
The game airs at 9:30 PM Central on ESPN+ and Hulu, or 102.5 The Game; grab your coffee for this one.