Nashville Predators visit Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings Thursday

January 30, 2013 |

Clarksville, TN – The Nashville Predators are in desperate need of a win, and it doesn’t get any easier when they face the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings, Thursday night, January 31st at the Stables Center. The puck hits ice at 9:30pm.

The Predators were shut out for the second time in three games their last time out against Phoenix.  Roman Josi led all skaters with five shots on goal, a career high.  He and Shea Weber (four shots) accounted for nine of Nashville’s 21 shots (42.8 percent).

Nashville won the face-off battle thanks to a 9-for-13 (69 percent) night from David Legwand, and an 8-for-13 performance (62 percent) from Mike Fisher. Rich Clune collected his third fighting major of the season, and is tied for second in the league in the category.  Ryan Ellis played a season-high 19:16.

The Predators were without Patric Hornqvist for the first time this season.  He will miss the next 3-4 weeks with a knee sprain.

Nashville Predators Defenseman Shea Weber

Thursday marks the fifth game of a franchise record tying seven-game road swing; the Predators also played seven straight on the road from October 30th-November 12th, 2002.  The trip will last 15 days, and see the team go to Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks, Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, then back to St. Louis to wrap things up on February 5th.  Nashville’s next game in the Music City will be February 7th against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings, who they visit on Thursday night.

The Predators go head-to-head with the Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center, the first meeting of the teams since March 17th, 2012. The Kings have had the upper hand in the series the past two seasons, taking three of four games in both 2010-11 and 2011-12.

In the four seasons prior from 2005-09, Nashville posted an 11-4-1 mark against L.A., including five straight wins at Staples Center from January 8th, 2008-March 14th, 2010 and seven consecutive wins overall from October 25th, 2008-March 14th, 2010.

Nashville Predators Forward Sergei Kostitsyn

All-time, Los Angeles is the only Western Conference team Nashville has a winning record against on the road (13-10-3) but a losing record against on home ice (9-14-3).

Patric Hornqvist (4g) and Martin Erat (2g-2a) tied for the team lead in points against Los Angeles a season ago.  Erat has 27 points (6g-21a) in 35 career games against the Kings, while Hornqvist has seven goals in 14 career games.  Roman Josi has points in each of his first two games played against L.A., scoring a goal on February 27th, 2012 and notching an assist on March 6th, 2012.  Sergei Kostitsyn has eight points (2g-6a) in nine career games against the Kings.

Chris Mason has recorded five shutouts against Los Angeles – his highest total against any team.  The total includes his first career whitewash on January 13th, 2004.  He has a 9-4-1 record with a 1.80 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage against L.A. in his career.

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