In a story that’s becoming all too familiar, the Kings needed more than 60 minutes of play to determine a winner in Saturday’s matchup in Nashville.
Not only was overtime not enough to resolve things, fans inside Bridgestone Arena ended up being treated to a nine-round shootout. Unfortunately, coach Jim Hiller’s squad could only secure one point, leaving town on the wrong side of a 5-4 outcome.
And in a weird stat, the Kings were beaten on a goal scored by a guy who still hasn’t recorded his first official NHL goal. As weird as that sounds, it’s true.
Preds forward Ozzy Wiesblatt has now played 11 NHL games and has zero goals. However, that didn’t stop him from converting in the shootout. He beat Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper and essentially handed Nashville a win. Wiesblatt was originally drafted by the Sharks (first round, 2020), but was later traded to the Preds in a deal last year.
LA jumped out to an early lead via a goal from the red-hot Adrian Kempe; only to see Nashville’s Ryan O’Rielly tie it up a few minutes later. Knotted at 1-1 after 20 minutes, and 3-3 after 40, had the Kings playing a competitive game heading into the final frame of regulation. Trevor Moore put them up 4-3 in the third, but Nashville tied it up once again. Following nobody scoring in overtime, it was off to the shootout. Kempe and O’Rielly both scored to open things up, before it became a back-and-forth affair lasting nine rounds.
There’s no time to give this game too much more attention, it’s now on to Chicago for the second half of a back-to-back weekend for the Kings.
Game highlights can be viewed here:
Additional game notes:
— Per NHL PR, Perry’s goal made him the first player in Kings history to score in consecutive appearances at age 40 or older. How about this, though: Who was the last 40-year-old player to score for the Kings? Answer at the end of this section.
— Kempe has not cooled down; he has a goal in each of the past five road games (and nine total points over that stretch). Back in 2002, Adam Deadmarsh scored in six straight road games.
— With 199 career goals, Kempe will become the 10th player in franchise history to record 200 goals in a Kings uniform the next time he finds the back of the net.
— Forward Joel Armia scored his first goal as a member of the Kings, and a few minutes later he added his fifth assist of the season.
— LA won only 45% of the faceoffs.
— The last 40-year-old player to score for the Kings was not Luc Robitaille; he was 39 when scoring his final goals in an LA uniform during the 2005-06 season. It was actually defenseman Larry Robinson, with a goal on April 14, 1992 vs. Vancouver. It was Robinson’s last NHL goal. He retired that summer and returned as the Kings head coach a few years later.
Pregame notes and lineups can be found in the article linked below.
MORE LA KINGS NEWS:
Projected Lineups: Kings at Predators, Game 9 Notes and How to Watch
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please remember to include a link to www.MayorsManor.com