Kings Crush the Predators 6-1

All good things come to an end. The Nashville Predators five game winning streak came to an end with a resounding thud against the Los Angeles Kings 6-1 at the Bridgestone Arena.

In a word, the Predators effort tonight was impotent. There was absolutely no fight from the Predators as they rolled over against the Kings.

And this was horribly disappointing.

Every team endures a loss, even a thumping. Tonight, the Predators were dominated by the Kings and showed no fire, no push back against the onslaught that the Kings unleashed. Frankly, the Kings had their way with the Predators and there was no response.

It is probably easier to say who didn't score for the Kings rather than who did, because it seemed that everyone on the roster as well as the equipment managers were finding the back of the net. The Kings scored just 15 seconds into the contest as Justin Williams tapped in his own rebound past Anders Lindback.

This was just the beginning.

Ryan Smyth tallied twice. Alex Ponikorovsky, Drew Doughty, and Trevor Lewis also found the net against a Predators defense that left the front of the net open and Nashville's netminders under assault during the contest. For the night, the Predators failed to clear the front of the net and gave the Kings numerous quality scoring opportunities on which they capitalized.

Lindback was chased in the first period in favor of Mark Dekanich, who fared no better, allowing three goals during the remainder of the contest.

Steve Sullivan had the only tally for the Predators.

This effort was pathetic. The Predators have been owned in their two contests with the Kings. The lack of fire, of fight , was particularly galling. As the Kings had their way with the Predators, the appalling aspect was that there was no one who stepped up to show any fight.

The Predators rarely challenged L.A. netminder Jonathan Bernier, making him look like the second coming of Patrick Roy.

You can call it one of those nights. Those happen, but dammit, at least show some fight.

You were owned, boys. And you did nothing about it.

And that is unacceptable.

My three stars:

1. Ryan Smyth

2. Justin Williams

3. Jonathan Bernier

Predators Update

The Nashville Predators starting goaltender Pekka Rinne will not make the trip with the team to play the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. Rinne was injured in a collision with Anaheim's Troy Bodie and Nashville's Francis Buillon. Although Rinne's injury does not appear to be serious, the Predators are going to give him some extra rest to receive treatment.

The Predators will go with rookie Anders Lindback as the starter and have called up Mark Dekanich from their AHL affiliate in Milwaukee to serve as a backup.

Lindback saw 17:22 in ice time in the season opener as he came in in relief of Rinne in the third period. He allowed no goals on the 7 shots he faced.

The Predators will play their first back to back games of the season as they will be home to play the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.

The Predators will also be without Martin Erat for the game with Chicago. Erat missed practice with back spasms, and the training and coaching staff thought it best to let him try to heal rather than push through this injury.

It is unknown how many games Erat and Rinne will miss.