Dustin Brown had a goal and two assists and the Los Angeles Kings, after blowing a three-goal lead in the third period, won their home opener 7-4 against the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon.
Ilya Kovalchuk, Michael Amadio and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist, while Kyle Clifford, Alex Iafallo and Drew Doughty also scored goals for Los Angeles, which scored three goals in the final minute after the Predators tied the game with 8:30 to play.
Iafallo gave the Kings a 5-4 lead at 19:01 before Los Angeles tacked on two empty-net goals.
Defenseman Sean Walker added two assists for the Kings, who were coming off an 8-2 loss at the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night in a game that saw goalie Jonathan Quick surrender a career-high eight goals.
Jack Campbell, who picked up the Kings' only win entering Saturday in his lone start this season, started against the Predators and made 28 saves.
Mikael Granlund, Viktor Arvidsson, Matt Duchene and Colton Sissons scored for the Predators, who came in on a two-game winning streak.
Ryan Johansen and Ryan Ellis provided two assists each.
Juuse Saros made 30 saves in his second start this season for Nashville.
The Kings took a 4-1 lead into the third period, but gave it away in the first 11 1/2 minutes.
Arvidsson scored his third goal of the season to cut the lead to 4-2 at 1:17 of the third.
Duchene scored on a power play to make it 4-3 at 10:56, and Sissons scored 34 seconds later to tie the score at 4-4.
The Kings outshot the Predators 13-4 in the first period and went into the first intermission holding a 2-1 lead.
Kopitar scored from the right circle off a backhand pass from Brown to give Los Angeles that lead at 11:14 of the first.
The Kings tied the score at 8:47 after Walker flung the puck through traffic from the sidewall and it ended up in the crease, where Amadio pushed it through the open right side before Saros could stick out his left pad.
Granlund gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 4:55.
He retrieved the puck between the bottom of the left circle and goal line, paused with the puck on his blade before shooting from the sharp angle and scoring up high.
Clifford made it 3-1 at 6:53 of the second period, getting a piece of Joakim Ryan's shot through traffic and sending the puck got past Saros.
Kovalchuk stretched the lead to 4-1 off a feed from Amadio at 18:12 of the second period.
--Field Level Media
Nashville | Los Angeles | |
Ryan Ellis 2 | Points | Dustin Brown 3 |
Viktor Arvidsson 1 | Goals | Dustin Brown 1 |
Ryan Ellis 2 | Assists | Dustin Brown 2 |
Matt Duchene 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Juuse Saros .838 | Save Percentage | Jack Campbell .875 |
Juuse Saros 31 | Saves | Jack Campbell 28 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Nashville | 32 | 4 | 1-4 | 2-2 | 4 | 35 |
Los Angeles | 38 | 7 | 0-2 | 3-4 | 8 | 24 |