Predators relinquish big lead, then nip Kings in shootout

Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and an assist and Luke Evangelista scored the lone goal in the eight-round shootout to lift the visiting Nashville Predators to a 5-4 victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.

Filip Forsberg, Zachary L'Heureux and Steven Stamkos also scored, and Juuse Saros made 29 saves and did not allow a goal in the shootout. The Predators (35-31-9, 79 points) ended a three-game losing streak and moved ahead of the Kings into third place in the Western Conference wild-card race.

Adrian Kempe scored two goals, Joel Armia had a goal and an assist, Scott Laughton scored and Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves for the Kings (30-26-19, 79 points), who have lost six of eight (2-2-4) and are fourth in the West's wild-card race.

The Kings trailed 4-1 midway through the second period before scoring three straight.

Kempe cut it to 4-2 at 13:29 of the second period when a blocked shot by Justin Barron ricocheted to him in the slot and he put it into the net for his 30th goal of the season.

Laughton then put in a rebound with a backhand to make it 4-3 at 15:45 of the second.

Armia tied it 4-4 at 9:57 of the third when he poked in a loose puck in the crease after it squeezed through the pads of Saros.

After a goal by the Predators was disallowed 18 seconds into the game because of a high stick, the Predators scored 34 seconds later when Forsberg's shot from just above the goal line in the corner squeezed under Kuemper and across the goal line.

L'Heureux recovered a blocked shot in front of the crease and pulled the puck away from Kuemper before sliding it into the open side of the net for a 2-0 lead at 3:47 of the first.

Kuemper stopped a penalty shot by Ryan O'Reilly with nine seconds left in the opening period to keep it a two-goal deficit entering the second.

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty made an ill-advised pass from behind his net up the middle of the ice, leading to a goal by Marchessault that extended the lead to 3-0 at 2:02 of the second period.

The Kings cut it to 3-1 at 6:09 when Artemi Panarin's centering pass redirected off the skates of Kempe and into the net.

Nashville regained a three-goal lead when Stamkos finished off a feed from O'Reilly at the end of a 2-on-1 to make it 4-1 at 8:19 of the second period.