LOS ANGELES (AP) Ryan OāReilly had a power-play goal and an assist, Gustav Nyquist also scored and the Nashville Predators beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Thursday night.
Roman Josi had an assist for the fifth straight game and Juuse Saros made 33 saves as the Predators won for the third time in four games.
āThey brought it to us very early and weāre on our heels, and then Juice, I thought, bailed us out until we got things going and kind of found our game,ā OāReilly said. āIt was kind of playoff style, heavy and fast. That was a big win for us.ā
Drew Doughty scored and David Rittich made 31 saves for the Kings, who lost for the 10th time in 11 games.
āWe fixed one area tonight, we didnāt give up a lot," coach Todd McLellan said. "When we did, I thought Rittich played really well. The other end of the rink, you got to score goals to win. For only giving up two, we should be able to win every night.ā
Nyquist put the Predators up 2-1 with 6:20 left in the second period, putting the pad save of Luke Schennās shot into an open net after Doughtyās power-play goal canceled out OāReillyās tip with the man advantage.
āThatās exactly what I was hoping for,ā Nyquist said. āWe got a great shot by Schenner. Itās one of those pucks that comes right to your stick, and you just got to bury it.ā
OāReilly redirected Josiās shot, marking the defensemanās seventh assist during a five-game span. He has at least 30 assists for the ninth straight season, excluding the COVID-19-shortened 2021 campaign.
āTalking about power play, we havenāt been as good as of late,ā OāReilly said. āWe have to be more simple, get pucks to the net, winning battles. Great heads up play by him and I was able to get a piece of it.ā
Hours after general manager Rob Blake gave McLellan a vote of confidence amid the Kingsā slump, some of the same issues that have defined the recent poor stretch popped up again.
Los Angeles failed to score at even strength for the third time in four games, and McLellan sees that lack of offense becoming a weight on how his players are approaching the game.
āWe had 3-on-2s, we had a 4-on-2, we had some other entries where we really gargled the puck,ā McLellan said. āEarlier on in the year, those were nice plays that we made. So a little bit of it is stress and tension. Got to fight through it.ā
Doughty did score for the third time in five games, while also reaching double digits in goals for the first time since 2017-18.
Speaking before the Kings passed the halfway point of their season, Blake pledged to stand by McLellan, who is in his fifth season and has reached the playoffs in each of the past two years. "Iām gonna rely on the players and the leadership to get us out of that,ā Blake said.
UP NEXT
Predators: Visit the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
Kings: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday night.
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