The Los Angeles Kings' four-game wins streak came to a halt on Thursday, as they lost to the Nashville Predators 4-1.
With Nashville securing two empty netters, the 4-1 score line doesn't quite reflect what a tightly contested game this was.
As always, the Predators were physical, sound defensively and difficult to play against.
From the opening puck drop, the Kings struggled to deal with the Predators play style. There were plenty of errant passes and miscommunications, which Jim Hiller gave credit to the Predators for after the game.
"Yeah, well, that’s difficult, but give them credit, they made it difficult," said Hiller. "They really checked us and that wasn’t a surprise, strong team, so they did a really nice job. So, your execution has to be even a little bit better when you’re playing a team that checks you that well and ours wasn’t. That made it doubly hard for us to get through that."
Forward Kevin Fiala went into a little more depth on the struggles of playing this Nashville team after the game.
"Overall, just play a little smarter," Fiala said. "They’re not a bad team. I don’t know how you guys saw it, but there wasn’t much room out there, they close on us quick, they had good gaps and good tracks, it wasn’t much time out there. I think we just didn’t do the right things against that type of team. I think we just have to adjust a little better."
Not doing the right things feels obvious after a loss, so what did Fiala mean in particular? What is the right thing to do against a team like Nashville?
"I think just we didn’t skate that much, we didn’t skate onto pucks, we didn’t play fast," said Fiala when asked to expand on what the "right things" are. "I think it was too much slowing down the game and in the o-zone, I think we didn’t go side to side and low to high, we didn’t go to the net, I think the goalie saw way too many pucks. I think we didn’t shoot too many pucks, we tried to pass it when it wasn’t there. So, I think in situations like this, like tonight, I think we need to be a little more straightforward and then it will open up."
The message seems to be clear, simplify things and get more pucks, and traffic, to the net. That's how this team has to win games. They're at their best when scoring dirty goals and fighting for every inch of ice.
Of course, while the Predators do deserve a lot of credit, no one deserves more credit than Juuse Saros on their side.
Saros stopped 27 of 28 shots and 1.55 goals saved above expected. His biggest saves came on a pair of Trevor Lewis breakaways and a Quinton Byfield rush chance.
Despite a "down year" by his standards, Saros proved why he's still viewed as an elite goalie around the league.
The Kings may have lost, but it's important not to get bogged down by one off night. They're still 5-2 coming out of the All-Star break with a strong chance to make it 6-2 on Saturday against Anaheim.
"That's just it, you have to park it," said Hiller when asked about moving on after a tough loss. "The wins are fun, everybody's exited and all that, you have to park the wins, get ready for the next game. No different for this one tonight, hard fought, we didn't get it done. We have to be ready for the next game."
That next game is a rivalry game against the Anaheim Ducks at home on Saturday night.