The LA Kings overturned a three-goal deficit to come back and force the game into a shootout, though they set an NHL record for overtime/shootout defeats as they fell 5-4 in the shootout against the Nashville Predators on Thursday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

After Nashville had a goal disallowed for playing the puck with a high stick just 17 seconds into the game, the visitors opened the scoring still inside the game’s first minute, via forward Filip Forsberg. In the corner, deep in the offensive zone, Forsberg’s shot from the outside snuck through Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper and in, putting the Predators ahead 1-0 very early in the evening.

The Predators made it 2-0 inside the game’s first four minutes. A Nashville shot from the outside was blocked down in the slot, but forward Zachary L’Heureux was first to the rebound, which he collected, deked onto the backhand and beat Kuemper from in tight, giving the visitors an early two-goal advantage off a fast start to the game.

Early in the second period, Nashville made it 3-0 as forward Jonathan Marchessault got on the board. After defenseman Drew Doughty turned the puck over in his own zone, through the middle of the ice, Nashville capitalized. The Predators had another shot from the point blocked down, but the rebound fell directly to Marchessault in a dangerous area, with the winger burying his 12th goal of the season for a three-goal lead.

Just over six minutes into the middle stanza, the Kings finally got on the board, as forward Adrian Kempe pulled one back for the hosts. Forward Artemi Panarin used his skill on the puck to maintain control as he fell to the ice, before he fired a pass to Kempe at the back post, with the Swede burying from close range, moving the Kings back to within two goals.

The visitors answered just over two minutes later, however, restoring a three-goal advantage midway through the second period. Nashville attacked quickly in transition, with forward Ryan O’Reilly leading a 2-on-1 rush the other way. O’Reilly held the puck down the left wing before he found forward Steven Stamkos driving the net, with the veteran scoring his team-leading 37th goal of the season to put the Predators ahead 4-1.

Kempe struck back once again, as he reached the 30-goal mark for the fourth time in five seasons with his second goal of the second period. Kempe made the play happen as he chased down a loose puck after his own shot was blocked and he ripped the second effort past Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros for the goal, with forward Anze Kopitar collecting an assist on the night he was honored by the team with a pre-game ceremony.

Shortly before the end of the second period, the Kings pulled back to within a single goal, taking the game into the second intermission at 4-3. Attacking off the rush, forward Joel Armia got a shot through from the high slot, with Saros making the save, but forward Scott Laughton drove the net aggressively and buried the rebound from close range for his 12th goal of the season, bringing Los Angeles within one.

Just shy of the halfway mark in the third period, the kings came all the way back to tie the game at four. Forward Jared Wright used his speed to gain a half step down the right wing and although his shot was kept out by Saros, the puck trickled through his legs and into the crease, with Armia driving the net to bury the loose puck for the game-tying goal, his second point of the game.

The remainder of the third period and overtime came and went without a goal, leading into a shootout. The two teams combined for 15 consecutive shooters without a goal, before forward Luke Evangelista won the game in the eighth round with the only goal of the skills competition, to earn Nashville the second point.

Hear from Kopitar, Armia and Interim D.J. Smith following tonight’s game.

Joel Armia

Anze Kopitar
On only getting one point from tonight’s game
Obviously you want to get the two points. We didn’t get them, we’ll take the one. Certainly not the start that we wanted, but the fight, the character this group showed is obviously encouraging. We’re going to need that kind fight going forward.

On the mentality for the team over the final seven games
It’s a playoffs-type of mentality from here on out, if we want to get to the playoffs. It’s a lot of intensity, a lot of desperation and we’ve just got to do it right from the drop of the puck and right until the very end.

On what he felt the turning point in the game was tonight
Scoring the next goal. If it goes to 5-1, it’s most likely done, but we got it to 4-2 and 4-3 was huge going into the second intermission. We kept pressing and pressing and we just got the equalizer but couldn’t get the couldn’t get the door closed.

On another slow start tonight
I mean, it happens, definitely not ideal, but even after a slow start, you’ve just got to put it behind you and go. I mean, it’s really one goal at a time. We fought back.

On if it has sunk in at all that these could be his final seven games, if the Kings miss the playoffs
I don’t plan on just playing seven more games.

D.J. Smith
On possibly using Anton Forsberg more down the stretch and if he considered a goaltending change at 2-0
Buck will make those decisions, he’s the goalie coach, but Kuemps has been our guy all along. Certainly, we’ll look at everything in every position that gives us a chance to win. [Reporter: Did you consider pulling Darcy at 2-0?] No. I didn’t love the start by us. Sometimes you have the long presentation and you’re a little rusty and then it’s the high stick and just the start wasn’t what we wanted by the players, either. So no, not at two, for sure.

On the start tonight and three consecutive flat starts at home
I mean, at the end of the day, you’ve probably got to simplify it. You’ve got to start by winning the opening drop, you’ve got to put it in and you’ve got to forecheck and you get a couple shifts and then you get going in. It’s like anything else, the more you talk about it, then it becomes a thing. So, you could turn around and say, boy, your second periods are good or boy, you third period was really good tonight. It was a tale of two games completely. They dominated the first half and I thought we took it to them in the second half.

On what he felt the turning point in the game was, going from 4-1 down to 4-4
Well, the second goal not very long after, we got a little bit of life and the fans got rolling. Then, we’re not all over them, but we’re getting some chances. We’ve got a 2-on-1, you get an odd-man rush, I think both teams will look at that tape and go, wow, we gave up some chances. Darce made a couple big saves and then back we go the other way. At 4-3, the penalty between periods being reviewed after looking at it, it wasn’t a high stick and that’s a big difference in the game. If you’ve got to start by killing four minutes, maybe they get one, and the penalty kill was outstanding tonight, but maybe they get one, maybe they don’t, but it’s four minutes of a bunch of guys sitting on the bench and the refs got it right, the guy put his head up in the air, and he never got hit.

On the feeling in the room right now, with seven games left in the season
Well, guys would be upset, for sure, but you’ve got to turn the page quick. We’ve got to come out with a couple really good performances. One thing we haven’t had is bing able to score goals and we’re finding ways to score. Now, we’ve got to check. I mean, ultimately, it’s this time of the year where you’ve got to close teams down. Once we got it to 4-4, we didn’t give them anything. We have to start the game like that.

Notes –
– Forward Adrian Kempe (2-0=2) scored his 29th and 30th goals of the year, clinching the fourth 30-goal season of his career. Kempe becomes the seventh skater in franchise history to record four or more 30-goal seasons. With his pair of goals tonight, Kempe extends his goal streak to a third game (4-1=5), dating back to March 28 against Utah. It is his second goal streak of three games this season, the 15th such streak of his career.
– Forward Scott Laughton (1-0=1) scored his 12th goal of the season, his fourth strike in 14 games played with the Kings since being acquired from Toronto.
– Forward Joel Armia (1-1=2) notched his 12th assist before scoring his 11th goal of the year to tie tonight’s contest at four goals apiece. Tonight’s effort marks Armia’s fourth multi-point game of the campaign, and second in as many consecutive games against Nashville (1-1=2 on Oct. 25, 2025) in his career.
– Forward Artemi Panarin (0-1=1) recorded his 51st assist of the season, his 20th point (7-13=20) through 19 games played since being acquired by the Kings. In doing so, Panarin becomes the 14th skater in Kings history to reach 20 or more points in their first 19 games with the club, tying Rick Tocchet (10-10=20) and Vitali Yachmenev (10-10=20) for 12th-most points collected in that inaugural span.
– With the assist, Panarin has 23 points in 25 games played against the Predators, recording nine points in his last seven games played (4-5=9) against the club.
– Defenseman Joel Edmundson (0-1=1) picked up his 18th helper and 20th point (2-18=20) of the season tonight. In doing so, Edmundson matches his single- season career high in points set twice previously (7-13=20 in 2019-20 w/ CAR and 6-13=20 in 2024-25). With his third career 20-point season, Edmundson becomes the seventh Manitoba-born defenseman in NHL history to record three or more 20-point seasons.
– Captain Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) notched his 24th assist of the season to build on his title as the LA Kings’ all-time leading scorer (452-862=1,314). With the secondary helper on Kempe’s second goal of the evening, Kopitar (31 A) ties Nathan MacKinnon (31A) and Jonathan Toews (31A) for the third-most career assists recorded against Nashville by an active NHL player. Kopitar (13-31=44) also ties Jamie Benn (16-28=44) for sixth-most career points collected against Nashville among active players.
– Kopitar also skated in his 1,514th career regular-season NHL game this evening, tying Steve Yzerman (1,514 GP) for the 24th-most games played in NHL history. Only seven players in League history have made more appearances with a single-franchise than Kopitar has with the Kings: Ray Bourque (1,518 GP with Boston), Shane Doan (1,540 GP with Arizona), Alex Delvecchio (1,550 GP with Detroit), Nicklas Lidstrom (1,564 GP with Detroit), Alex Ovechkin (1,566 GP with Washington), Patrick Marleau (1,607 GP with San Jose), and Gordie Howe (1,687 GP with Detroit)
– Defenseman Mikey Anderson (0-1=1) picked up his 14th assist of the campaign for the 100th point (21-79=100) of his career. Anderson is the 24th defenseman in franchise history to reach the 100-point milestone. Of the five blueliners from the 2017 NHL Draft class to record 100 or more points, Anderson is the first American to reach the mark.
– Forward Jared Wright (0-1=1) collected his second career assist and defenseman Brian Dumoulin (0-1=1) notched his 15th helper of the year on Armia’s game- tying tally.

The Kings have a scheduled day off tomorrow and will return to the ice on Saturday afternoon at 4 PM versus the Toronto Maple Leafs at Crypto.com Arena.