Justus Annunen made 20 saves, but the Nashville Predators fell to the Los Angeles Kings by a 1-0 final in overtime on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena. The result sees the Preds drop both games of a back-to-back in Anaheim and Los Angeles to finish out their California trip.
As was the case Friday night in Anaheim, the Predators were once again largely pleased with their effort - including just six shots allowed through the first two periods, but the Kings prevailed in the extra session while Nashville was unable to find the back of the net.
“I thought we actually played a solid game,” Preds defenseman Brady Skjei said. “We really didn't give them that much. [Annunen] played really good for us tonight. He played really good. It was one of those games where it wasn't going to be the cleanest of games, and both teams were fine with that. It came down to overtime, and a little bounce here and there, and we knew that was the way the game was going to end, and we just unfortunately didn't get that bounce.”
“[I’m proud] of the effort,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “We were committed to playing a game that they'd like to play, and that hasn’t always been the case with us, so I thought we managed the game extremely well. It wasn't a pretty game, I don't think on either side. It was tight checking. There wasn't a lot of offense, and we were committed to it. Had some chances at the end, couldn't score, and then overtime is, a lot of times, a coin flip, and we made a mistake, and that was the game.”
Both clubs had their chances through regulation time, but Annunen and Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper held their ground. Plus, Nashville’s defensive effort limited chances for the Kings through a majority of the evening as the Preds stymied one of the NHL’s top teams in the second half of a back-to-back.
“I thought we defended really well,” Skjei said. “They did have some O-zone time, but I thought we did a really good job of limiting their shots and their scoring chances, kind of keeping to the outside… That's a good job by the whole team, not just defensemen. The five guys in there just committed to playing defense, and unfortunately, we just couldn't put one in the net. So there's definitely going to be a lot of good things we can take from this game, and we'll learn from those and then get better at a few other things. But overall, I don't think we need to be too disappointed about this one. This one was a pretty good effort defensively, just didn't score.”
After 60 minutes solved nothing on the scoresheet, Quinton Byfield tallied the game-winner past Annunen. Now, the Preds will head home for a trio of contests at Bridgestone Arena, and they’ll take the good with them from the last 48 hours as they look to find the twine in Tennessee.
“We're in a back-to-back, [we knew] what we had to do to give ourselves a chance to win, and we did it,” Brunette said. “So, for the group, pretty proud of that effort and that mentality, because we knew it was going to be a hard game. You weren't going to get much, and the first team that blinks was going to lose and we hung in there to the end.”
Notes:
Predators forward Zach L’Heureux returned to the lineup after missing 12 games with an upper-body injury. Former Kings defenseman Andreas Englund was also back in for Nashville after being scratched Friday in Anaheim. Forward Luke Evangelista and defenseman Spencer Stastney were Nashville’s healthy scratches on Saturday.
With the California swing now complete, the Preds will now head back to Tennessee to begin a three-game homestand on Tuesday when they host St. Louis at Bridgestone Arena.
