LOS ANGELES — The Kings honored local broadcasting icon Jim Hill for 50 years of service before their game and then subjected their fans to 60 minutes of sloppiness in a 3-0 loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings were shut out for the first time since March 27, 2025, though they had 29 one-goal performances between bagels. They fell for the second straight game and third instance in four matches, remaining No. 14 among 16 teams in the Western Conference. Nashville kept climbing, reaching fifth in the West with its fifth consecutive victory.
Nashville entered the night ranking in the top four in both power-play conversion rate and penalty-kill percentage while the Kings sat dead last on the PK, but the game was a special-teams stalemate. The two sides combined to go 6 for 6 shorthanded and the Preds beat back a 6-on-5 stretch, too.
Anton Forsberg made 27 saves. Erik Gustafsson missed the game (undisclosed injury), opening the door for Cody Ceci, while Mats Zuccarello returned (shoulder injury) and relegated Alex Turcotte to the pressbox.
Nils Höglander engineered two goals for Filip Forsberg before Adam Wilsby hit a 200-foot bank shot into the empty net. Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots in his first shutout of 2026-27.
The visitors won each period 1-0.
They opened the scoring 5:20 into Tuesday’s affair, exposing the reunited and oft-maligned pairing of Ceci and Brian Dumoulin.
Dumoulin’s effort to pop the puck in the zone was stuffed completely by Nils Höglander, who pushed past Dumoulin and darted into the neutral zone. The Preds’ partial 2-on-1 rush culminated in Höglander’s saucer pass getting across Ceci and onto the stick of Forsberg for a redirection goal.
The second period saw more methodical play from the visitors, who again deposited the only goal of the period.
They nearly capitalized on one own-zone turnover by the Kings, instead having their initial shot blocked and drawing a penalty soon after. Though the Kings’ struggling penalty kill went 4 for 4 on Tuesday, the black and silver still ended up down 2-0 off Forsberg’s even-strength tally at the 10:32 mark.
Höglander’s puck retrieval allowed him to get the puck to Forsberg from a quick shot from the left faceoff dot that slipped through Forsberg.
Later in the frame, Andre Lee’s hit on Preds captain Roman Josi drew the ire of Adam Edström, who immediately dropped his gloves and then dropped Lee.
In the third period, the Kings forced pucks and pace, but to no avail.
They took and killed a penalty, but at a cost. Doughty, who had made the crisis-averting block in the second period, dove into sniper Steven Stamkos’ shooting lane. He took a hard shot off his right ankle and had to be helped from the ice after lying prone for a few moments. He did return to action soon after, however.
In the end, it was Saros withstanding a late push that saw the Kings nearly double their shot total for the contest.
That included a flurry ahead of the two-minute mark that ended when Wilsby’s clearing attempt from below his goal line struck the sidewall, sending the puck rolling on its side, down the ice and into the vacated cage with 2:10 to play.
More to come on this story.