Up and Down Equals Two Points Out of Four

One game away, one home. One win, one deflating loss. The Los Angeles Kings pulled out a shootout win in Dallas on Friday night but lost in regulation to the Nashville Predators Sunday over brunch. The game against the Stars wasn't too stressful in that those contests are usually mild to one degree or another, but Nashville is always a game that I'd rather clean the bathroom than watch.

For the first game, Jarret Stoll saved the day with his shootout goal, which was the ONLY one scored in the shootout. My leap off the couch was a very satisfying one. How did Jonathan Bernier fare? Pretty great! He looked impressively calm in net during regulation and seemed very much the same in overtime and the shootout. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to stand witness to his improvement seeing how he's been tearing it up in the AHL with the Manchester Monarchs this season. (These stats are for this one game only as Jonathan Quick was in net last night.)

Another new but familiar face in the crowd was Justin Williams. Coming off from his severe injury, he didn't look too bad. He definitely didn't contribute negatively to the Kings roster, especially since he was placed back on the top line immediately. He received 12:15 of TOI, so I'm pretty confident he'll move back into the lineup nicely overall.

After a 2-1 shootout victory over the Stars the Kings faced the dreaded Nashville Predators who they lost to in regulation (3-2). The Kings suck against the Preds; let's not mix words here. That's a fact they haven't been able to shake for at least two seasons. Not only was I not entirely enthusiastic about watching this game, it was also on at 12pm PST Sunday. Anyway, the game wasn't a complete write off. The Kings looked like they might be able to pull out a win, that is, until the Preds scored with just a few minutes left before time ran out. This must have been what New Jersey Devils fans felt like when they thought they were going to pull out a win over the Kings only to have their hopes smashed when Drew Doughty scored to end the game.

Quick was back in net after the birth of his first child (congrats!), but after a few goalie interference calls and non-calls the Kings ended the game with zero points. I'm going to do as I usually do and put this one behind me.