Telepeer

Kings erase 3-goal deficit before falling to Predators in shootout

April 3, 2026

LOS ANGELES — The Kings honored the legacy of Anže Kopitar before Thursday’s match but didn’t quite do enough to extend it beyond Game 82 of his final season after the puck dropped at Crypto.com Arena.

They were bested by the Nashville Predators, 5-4 in a shootout, in what turned out to be a three-point game that elevated the Preds back into the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and plopped the Kings back onto the wrong side of the playoff bubble.

The San Jose Sharks also won on Thursday, moving into a three-way points tie with Nashville and the Kings with two weeks left in the regular season. The Kings do not have the tiebreaker against either competitor, and the Sharks have a game in hand on both the Kings and Predators.

Luke Evangelista’s backhand conversion was the only goal in an eight-round shootout. The Kings could be considered fortunate to have earned one point, having trailed by three goals twice in the second period, rallying to head to overtime once more.

Nashville (35-31-9) has 79 points, the same total as the Kings (30-26-19), magnifying their final head-to-head meeting on Monday. That will also be at Crypto.com Arena, where the Kings have lost five of their past six games and 13 of their last 17.

The Kings were defeated for a record 19th time in a game that went beyond 60 minutes this season and fell for the 25th time in 27 scenarios in which they trailed through two periods.

Before the game started, the Kings held a ceremony celebrating Kopitar breaking the franchise’s career scoring record, a mark he set during a road trip last month. They dropped more than 1,300 foam pucks for each of Kopitar’s points at the conclusion of a video tribute that followed a gathering of Kopitar, his family and Triple Crown Line great Dave Taylor as well as former teammates Alec Martinez and Jarret Stoll.

After that, they fell behind 3-0 and 4-1, only to pull even and slip in the shootout, where they’re now 4-0-9. Nashville won by an identical 5-4 margin after an even longer shootout – nine rounds – on Oct. 25 in the Music City.

“Obviously, you wanna get the two points, we didn’t get ’em, but we’ll take the one. It was certainly not the start that we wanted,” Kopitar said. “But the fight and the character that this group showed is encouraging and we’re gonna need that kind of fight going forward.”

Adrian Kempe scored twice before Scott Laughton and Joel Armia added a goal apiece, with Armia tacking on an assist. Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves.

Filip Forsberg, Zachary L’Heureux, Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault each scored for Nashville, with Marchessault chipping in a helper. Juuse Saros stopped 30 shots.

The Predators appeared to strike less than 20 seconds into the contest, but L’Heureux’s goal was wiped away for being played with a high stick, a call that was confirmed upon review.

Yet the Predators still scored in the first minute just the same and doubled their lead less than three minutes later.

Fifty-two seconds after the opening draw, the Predators won an offensive-zone faceoff. Forsberg chipped the puck around the back of the net, pursuing it to receive it back from Marchessault. Forsberg sent a shuffleboard shot from the corner, a sharp-angle bid that ran parallel to the goal line, that somehow got through Kuemper.

After Brady Skjei’s shot attempt was blocked by Brandt Clarke, the puck squirted through Clarke to L’Heureux. He controlled the puck on his backhand, moved it to his forehand and finally scored off his backhand at 3:37, giving Kuemper little opportunity for a save.

Kuemper has just one win in his past six starts and only eight in 24 decisions since the calendar turned, when he returned from an upper-body injury sustained in a collision with Dallas Stars winger Mikko Rantanen. In both of those spans, he has an identical and subpar .875 save percentage.

His struggles didn’t conclude there, as late in the frame he came way out to play the puck shorthanded, abandoning his net for two oncoming attackers. He threw his stick at Ryan O’Reilly before Clarke made a stellar play to deny Tyson Jost’s shot at the vacated crease. O’Reilly was awarded a penalty shot, which Kuemper denied.

The Kings got on the board in the second period, but the marker was sandwiched like a slab of hot chicken between two Nashville goals, before striking twice to trail 4-3 at the second intermission.

Marchessault made it 3-0 after another greasy food item, a piping hot pizza, was served up by Drew Doughty. His blind, backhanded pass from behind his own net to the center of the ice was devoured by Justin Barron, whose heave created a rebound goal for Marchessault, 2:02 into the second period.

A Nashville turnover became an unconventional Kings goal just 4:07 later. Kempe knocked down Nicolas Hague’s feeble clearing attempt, which was picked off by Artemi Panarin. He blew an edge but swept the puck toward the back post as he fell to the ice. It ricocheted off Saros’ left pad and then Kempe’s skate as he went down from contact by Nick Perbix.

At 8:19, Roman Josi’s stretch pass sprung O’Reilly and Stamkos for a two-on-one rush that Stamkos finished with a confident redirection.

“We knew our season was on the line on this road trip,” Stamkos said, adding that the game was as close as a regular-season game could come to replicating the stakes and intensity of the postseason.

At the 13:29 and 15:45 marks, the Kings dashed back to within a goal.

First, it was Kempe’s team-pacing 30th goal after a broken rush play sent the puck to him off Barron and into the slot, where he flicked a shot inside the near post. The Swedish Olympian has four goals in three games.

Another loose puck, this one off an Armia rebound, found Laughton unmarked in front. He slammed home his fourth goal in 14 games as a King after scoring eight in 43 appearances with Toronto prior to the trade deadline. Laughton also lowered the boom on Marchessault in the first period.

“He’s a great teammate and a perfect role player … he’s great on faceoffs and a huge part of our penalty kill. He’s working his (butt) off and he’s been a great addition,” Kopitar said.

The Kings continued their push in the final 20 minutes.

Jared Wright fired off the rush, squeaking a shot through Saros. As it teetered inches from the goal line, Armia beat Marchessault to the puck and popped it across the line for his 11th goal.

“I’m proud of the team and how we battled back in the game, it just sucks to lose that one,” Armia said.

Overtime saw the two sides combine for three shots on goal, sending the game to an 11 p.m. finish.

The shootout was a goaltenders’ duel, until Evangelista’s bobble of the puck opened a path for him to lift the puck off his backhand to decide the match after 15 previous shooters missed.

Next up, the Kings host Toronto in a Saturday matinee.

Orange County Register

News Details

Kings erase 3-goal deficit before falling to Predators in shootout

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS