LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Kings will take the ice for the most important match of their season on Monday as they look to tame the Nashville Predators for the first time this year.<\/p>\n
These two sides are deadlocked in a points tie for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. Nashville broke a three-way traffic jam on Saturday via a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks and the Kings prevailed in a wildly unpredictable, and at times unprofessional, match against Toronto, 7-6 in overtime.<\/a><\/p>\n For the Kings, however, all that mattered were the two vital points.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we played great and we lost 3-2 tonight to a top goaltending display, I\u2019d sit here and not feel any better with a moral victory,\u201d interim coach D.J. Smith said. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to take that and we\u2019re going to take the two points, and then we\u2019re just going to throw the tape away and we\u2019re going to move on to the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe next one\u201d will pit them against the Preds, whom they played nearly six months apart in the two prior meetings with identical results: 5-4 losses at the end of two extended shootouts.<\/p>\n Darcy Kuemper started both those games in net, though, since his return from an upper-body injury on Jan. 1, backup Anton Forsberg has been the stronger performer. Forsberg has posted a save percentage that\u2019s 38 points higher than Kuemper\u2019s (.908 versus .870) in that span and allowed about half a goal less per game, which hasn\u2019t upended the netminding hierarchy.<\/p>\n Kuemper has allowed 15 goals in his past three starts, while Forsberg has yielded nine in his last three nods plus a one-period relief appearance after Kuemper got the hook against Utah.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to talk to (goalie coach Mike Buckley), and I\u2019m going to talk to management. I\u2019m going to talk to everyone involved and see where we\u2019re going with our lineup in general, not just (Kuemper),\u201d Smith said. \u201cI mean, there were some guys that played really well, then there were some guys that didn\u2019t play well at all (against Toronto). So there has to be accountability for how you play, and if there\u2019s somebody that can come in and help us, we\u2019re going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n