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Kings outlast Predators to move back into playoff position

April 7, 2026

LOS ANGELES — Monday marked the Kings’ biggest game of the season and, fittingly, it went well beyond 60 minutes before they bested the Nashville Predators, 3-2, in a shootout.

The result moved the Kings above Nashville for the final Western Conference playoff slot, 83 points to 82. Both teams have five games to play.

The Kings, who stretched their point streak to four games (3-0-1), extended their NHL record by playing in their 32nd game that couldn’t be completed in regulation.

Elsewhere, the San Jose Sharks (81 points with a game in hand) and Winnipeg Jets (80 points) each won to stay in the postseason hunt.

Joel Armia and Scott Laughton potted a goal apiece for the Kings. Anton Forsberg repelled 29 shots.

Nashville captain Roman Josi scored a goal after getting the secondary assist on a power-play marker by Steven Stamkos. Juuse Saros had 27 saves.

Alex Laferriere responded to a Nashville chance with an even more promising bid of his own in the final minute, but Saros came up with a stop. The Kings also came up empty on Adrian Kempe’s last-ditch drive to the net in the dying embers of overtime.

But Kempe converted in the shootout, feeding misinformation to Saros before scoring off his forehand to the stick side. It was the only goal of a shootout, wherein two Nashville shooters, sniper Filip Forsberg and Thursday’s hero Luke Evangelista, lost control of the puck. Nashville had won the teams’ previous two meetings in shootouts this season and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Nashville had netted the tying goal after Forsberg’s one-timer, launched as he fell to the ice, went wide and caromed to Josi. He wound up for a slap shot from above the left dot that snuck under Forsberg’s left pad, 4:18 into the final frame.

The Kings reclaimed the lead with 6:03 to play in the second period. Nashville defender Ryan Ufko gave the puck away under pressure, sending Jared Wright down the right-wing wall with speed. He slid the puck to Laughton for a redirection goal, his fifth in 16 games as a King.

Just 3:09 into the frame, the Kings took the game’s first penalty and four seconds later they took its second. The Predators converted on the 5-on-3 at 4:29, when Ryan O’Reilly’s saucer pass leapt over Drew Doughty’s stick and still landed perfectly flat for a Stamkos one-timer from the left dot. Stamkos, 36, scored his 39th goal of the season. He was taken first overall, one pick ahead of Doughty, in the 2008 NHL Draft.

The Kings had one of their better first periods in recent memory, earning over 80% of the expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick, and the only actual goal. They out-shot Nashville 12-4, out-attempted them 31-15 and out-hit them 12-7.

They got the puck gliding at 5:36 off a stellar individual effort from Armia. He took the puck from Tyson Jost in the neutral zone and confronted three Nashville defenders. He dropped behind the net and sent a pass in front for Taylor Ward, who was poke-checked by Saros. The puck came to Armia, who fired an ascending shot to the short side for an unassisted goal. Armia’s 12 tallies in black and silver surpassed his total with Montreal last season in 19 fewer games played.

More to come on this story.

Orange County Register

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Kings outlast Predators to move back into playoff position

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