NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Two years ago, Peter Budaj wasn't even in the NHL.

Now he is threatening to play in the All-Star Game at his home arena.

Pushing aside 28 shots, Budaj registered his fourth shutout of the season Thursday night as the Los Angeles Kings continued their marathon road trip with a 4-0 decision over the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena.

In upping his record to 15-8-3, the 34-year old Budaj helped Los Angeles (17-13-3) improve to 3-2-1 on a nine-game, 18-day trip that doesn't conclude until Dec. 29.

He continued to provide quality work in place of Jonathan Quick, who sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of the season opener Oct. 12 at San Jose and won't return before February.

Budaj owns a 2.04 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage after the latest gem. It wouldn't be illogical to suggest that Budaj could be one of the Pacific Division's two goalies for All-Star weekend next month at the Staples Center.

"I didn't even have a job two years ago," Budaj said. "This is unbelievable. I'm having one of the best years of my career. It's unfortunate that I got this opportunity because someone was hurt, but I love this game and I love to battle."

Budaj battled successfully again, getting plenty of help from a defense that blocked 15 shots and kept most of Nashville's shot attempts out of quality spots on the ice. However, he was sharp when he had to be midway through the second period.

With the Kings on the power play, Predators left winger Viktor Arvidsson created a short-handed breakaway. Budaj stopped him cold, then turned away Arvidsson's bid at a wraparound tally on the same sequence.

"He's a pretty fast player," Budaj said of Arvidsson. "Our defenseman was trying to chase him down ... I thought I could be more aggressive, and I was able to make the save."

Nashville generated two other quality chances prior to Arvidsson's breakaway in the first four minutes of the second period. However, Filip Forsberg's wrister from the left faceoff circle sailed high, and Colton Sissons' wrister from the right faceoff circle missed wide.

The inability to capitalize on those opportunities came back to haunt the Predators (15-13-5) when Los Angeles exploded for three third-period goals, two in a nine-second span.

Nic Dowd made it 2-0 at 4:25 when his wrister from a bad angle snuck through the legs of Pekka Rinne for his fourth goal. Jeff Carter turned on the red light almost immediately after Dowd's marker, ripping a wrister over Rinne for his 17th goal of the season.

Devin Setoguchi finished the outburst with his fourth goal of the season, skating to the goalmouth and converting Anze Kopitar's pass at 11:39 to start a mass exodus of fans from Nashville's third straight home loss.

Playing after consecutive road victories over Philadelphia and New Jersey, the Predators couldn't crack the Kings' big, physical defense.

"I think we're inconsistent from night to night," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "We have to be more consistent. That's what I want to see."

A sign of what kind of night this would be for the Predators occurred when Los Angeles initiated scoring at 6:33 of the first period. Skating down the right side, Nick Shore flicked a wrister that struck the stick handle of Nashville's Mike Ribeiro and fluttered past Rinne for just Shore's second goal of the season.

With Budaj and his teammates taking care of matters in their end, the Predators never recovered from that early, fluky goal.

"He's making the saves he has to make," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said of Budaj, "and we aren't giving up a whole lot. Out of six games on this road trip, I think we've played about four bad minutes."

Rinne (13-9-4) made 21 saves for Nashville, which was blanked for just the second time this season.

NOTES: Los Angeles C Tyler Toffoli (lower-body injury) missed his first game of the season. Toffoli's 20 points are second best on the team. ... Former Nashville C David Legwand announced his retirement from the NHL on Thursday. The team's first-ever draft pick in 1998, Legwand holds franchise records for games, goals, assists and points in a career. ... The Kings scratched D Matt Greene and LW Kyle Clifford. ... The Predators scratched D P.K. Subban (upper-body injury), D Petter Granberg and C Reid Boucher. Subban missed his fourth straight game.