Kings 5, Predators 4
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Los Angeles Kings appear to have put their scoring woes behind them.

Justin Williams scored twice to lead the Kings to a 5-4 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night. Drew Doughty, Matt Greene, and Trevor Lewis also scored to help Los Angeles win its third straight.

Patric Hornqvist scored twice and Martin Erat and Sergei Kostitsyn had the other goals for Nashville, loser of two of its last three.

With the score tied 3-3 after two periods, Greene put the Kings ahead at 1:15 of the third on a slap shot from the right point. Lewis had a tap in from just off the left post at 3:00 to make it 5-3.

Hornqvist's 20th of the season pulled the Predators within one with 5:18 to go.

"We got close," Hornqvist said. "I thought after that, it was all about us and they backed up. In the neutral zone, they took away our speed. We can't let five goals in a game. We need to clean up defensively."

Williams has 15 goals on the season, and three in his last three games. He has five points in three games against Nashville this season.

Predators goalie Pekka Rinne was removed after Lewis scored. The NHL's leader in goaltending victories gave up five goals on the 24 shots he faced and was replaced by backup Anders Lindback.

"To me, it just wasn't Peks' night," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We weren't helping him a whole lot. You have to help him in the crease area. Four is usually my limit with Peks, and I thought we still had a lot of game to go with, and I thought I would give him one more."

Erat tied the score at 2 at 9:16 of the second with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that beat Kings goalie Jonathan Quick on the short side. Mike Fisher had an assist on the goal for his 400th career point.

Quick made 22 saves en route to his first-ever victory over Nashville.

"They are a good team," Quick said. "They are tough to beat. "We scored some timely goals. This was a huge two points for us."

Doughty put the Kings ahead with 7:39 to go in the period and Kostitsyn tied it 3-3 with 5:55 remaining.

"Our defensemen scored two goals by getting shots through, getting it past the first guy," Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said. "That really was the difference. Our defense was more involved offensively than they have been."

Williams scored the game's first goal at 6:16 of the opening period.

From just below the goal line to the right of the Nashville goal, he sent the puck toward an out-of-position Rinne and the puck bounced off the goalie's right skate and then tricked across the line.

"We wanted to make Rinne work tonight," Williams said. "We felt the last few games we haven't gotten as much shots on net as we should have. We tried to put as many as we could at him."

Hornqvist tied it with 1:19 left in the period with a wrist shot from the high slot that beat Quick high to the glove side.

Williams put Los Angeles back ahead 12 seconds later. Driving toward the Nashville net on the left side, he got just enough of Slava Voynov's pass from above the right circle to put it over Rinne's right pad.

It was the first time since Feb. 7 the Predators allowed more than one goal in the first period.

NOTES: Los Angeles D Rob Scuderi played in his 200th consecutive game. ... Kings D Willie Mitchell had two assists Tuesday, his second multipoint game of this season. ... Nashville LW Andrei Kostitsyn has three points in his last two games. ... The Predators have not scored a power-play goal in their last four games.


Three star selections
1st:   JUSTIN WILLIAMS
2nd:   PATRIC HORNQVIST
3rd:   TREVOR LEWIS
Winning Goaltender
Jonathan Quick

Losing Goaltender
Pekka Rinne

SCHEDULE

HOME
AWAY
PROMOTIONAL

STANDINGS

WESTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 p - CHI 48 36 7 5 155 102 77
2 y - ANA 48 30 12 6 140 118 66
3 y - VAN 48 26 15 7 127 121 59
4 x - STL 48 29 17 2 129 115 60
5 x - LAK 48 27 16 5 133 118 59
6 x - SJS 48 25 16 7 124 116 57
7 x - DET 48 24 16 8 124 115 56
8 x - MIN 48 26 19 3 122 127 55
9 CBJ 48 24 17 7 120 119 55
10 PHX 48 21 18 9 125 131 51
11 DAL 48 22 22 4 130 142 48
12 EDM 48 19 22 7 125 134 45
13 CGY 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 NSH 48 16 23 9 111 139 41
15 COL 48 16 25 7 116 152 39

STATS

2012-2013 REGULAR SEASON
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
S. Weber 48 9 19 -2 28
D. Legwand 48 12 13 -6 25
M. Fisher 38 10 11 6 21
C. Wilson 25 7 12 1 19
R. Josi 48 5 13 -7 18
G. Bourque 34 11 5 6 16
S. Kostitsyn 46 3 12 -5 15
P. Hornqvist 24 4 10 -1 14
K. Klein 47 3 11 -1 14
N. Spaling 47 9 4 -10 13
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
P. Rinne 15 16 8 .910 2.43
C. Mason 1 7 1 .873 3.73

 


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