Austin Watson’s two goals lead Nashville over Kings

LOS ANGELES – Kings coach John Stevens painted an impressive picture of the Nashville Predators.

“I think their defense is arguably as good as any defense in the league,” Stevens said at the morning skate ahead of Saturday night’s game against the visiting Predators. “And not just six – they have eight guys deep. They’ve got a goalie (Pekka Rinne) who handles the puck really well and I think they’re really, really solid down the middle now. They’re a good team. I think they’re as good a team as there is in the West.”

Unfortunately for the Kings, their coach was right as the Predators rode two goals by Austin Watson to a 4-3 victory over the Kings before a sellout crowd of 18,230 at Staples Center.

Nashville (24-11-6, 54 points) came in having lost two in a row and three of its past four. The Kings (24-13-5, 53 points) have lost two consecutive games.

Nashville took a 1-0 lead when Roman Josi beat Jonathan Quick from about 10 feet inside the blue line at 15:08 of the first period. It was a power-play goal, and it came after the Kings had killed all but 19 seconds of a four-minute penalty to Drew Doughty.

Doughty was called for interference at the 11:27 mark. Before the power-play began, Doughty was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct, adding two more minutes.

Fifteen seconds in, Dustin Brown drew a tripping penalty, meaning the Predators would have a two-man advantage for 1:45. The Kings and their league-best penalty-kill unit killed Brown’s penalty and almost all of the two Doughty incurred, but Josi foiled all that with his eighth of the season. Assists went to Kyle Turris and P.K. Subban.

Nashville out-shot the Kings 9-7 in the first 20 minutes.

The Kings tied the scored 1-1 when Adrian Kempe scored his 13th of the season at 6:43 of the second. The goal was unassisted as Kempe stole the puck from Subban in the Nashville end and shot one past Rinne.

But some five minutes later, at 11:53, Scott Hartnell scored his sixth when he got one past an out-of-position Quick from point-blank range for a 2-1 Predators lead. Hartnell was left unmarked. Ryan Johansen and Alexei Emelin had the assists.
Not satisfied, Nashville increased its lead to 3-1 when Watson scored his fourth from about 15 feet at the 16:49 mark. Assists went to Subban and Miikka Salomaki.

Quick went down early in the period when a dislodged net hit him in the back. Quick went down and seemed to be favoring his left knee, but he stayed in the game.

The Kings had 18 shots on goal through two periods, the Predators 15.
The Kings pulled within 3-2 when Trevor Lewis scores his 10th of the season at 3:56 of the third, assists going to Alex Iafallo and Nick Shore.

That joy was short-lived when Watson scored his second of the game and fifth of the season at 5:05 for a 4-2 Predators advantage. Ryan Ellis and Calle Jarnkrok had the assists.

The Kings hung tough and when Tyler Toffoli scored his 18th on a power play at 8:24 of the period, they were within 4-3. Tanner Pearson and Anze Kopitar assisted.

NOTES: The Kings on Saturday announced they activated defenseman Christian Folin off of the injured reserve list and put defenseman Jake Muzzin on the IR. Folin went on the IR on Dec. 21 with an upper-body injury. Muzzin also has an upper-body injury, with his placement on the IR retroactive to Jan. 4. … The Kings will now take their mandated bye and won’t play again until next Saturday, when they host the Ducks.