• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Predators rebound from bad loss, crush Kings

Dec 24, 2006 - 6:21 AM NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Jason Arnott made the Los Angeles Kings pay for being next in line after the Nashville Predators worst loss of the season.

Arnott, J.P. Dumont and David Legwand scored two goals each as the Predators posted a 7-0 rout of the Kings.

Paul Kariya also tallied and Chris Mason posted his third shutout of the season - and sixth of his career - for Nashville, which was embarrassed by the Buffalo Sabres, 7-2, at home on Thursday.

"Shutouts are nice to get, but it doesn't really matter as long as we win the game," Mason said. "I have pretty high expectations for myself, but I don't set a specific number of shutouts as a goal. I just worry about how I play every time I go out on the ice."

"It was good to get a really good win," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "We did a lot of things that were better than they were against Buffalo. Mason was great tonight. He was very deserving of the shutout."

Arnott tallied first at the 5:45 mark of the first period, then added his second goal with a man advantage midway through the second session to give the Predators a commanding 4-0 lead.

"The first period, we gave up a lot of chances and Mason was there to back us up," Arnott said. "They created a lot and we came out with a 2-0 lead. It was a great opportunity for us. We just kept banging it home and putting them away and bearing down at the end."

Dumont scored twice in the second period and Legwand converted a penalty shot in the session while scoring a power-play goal in the third for Nashville, which had three players score two goals apiece for the first time in franchise history.

"We didn't play a solid game last game," Dumont said. "We wanted to have a strong 60 minutes of hockey from everyone tonight. We are a fast team and when we use our speed, good things will happen."

"We got our butts kicked," Kings defenseman Aaron Miller said "We went to the box. We let them get behind us for breakaways. Everything we wanted to do, we didn't do. It was a bad effort. We don't have the depth or skill to be trading chances with a team like Nashville. That is what we tried to do tonight and they burned us."

Kariya was unsuccessful on a penalty shot at 10:26 in the first period, but later scored the conventional way when he tallied with 5:38 left in the session. It also was the first time the Predators had two penalty shot attempts in a contest.

Dan Cloutier stopped just 20 of 27 shots before being ejected from the game for spearing. He received a game misconduct penalty following a spearing call, his third infraction of the contest. Barry Brust replaced him and made 12 saves.

The teams combined for 30 penalties, 16 by the Kings, who have lost four straight.