Predators at L.A. Kings

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Predators update: Nashville is looking for its first road win after losing in St. Louis, Anaheim and San Jose. ? The Predators (2-5) are 2-0 when scoring first, 0-5 when opponents score first. ? Nashville won its two games here last season by a combined score of 10-4.

Kings update: Prior to Monday's games, center Mike Cammalleri led the NHL with eight goals in nine games and center Anze Kopitar was tied for sixth in points with 12 (four goals, eight assists). ? The Kings have won two of their past three games after losing five straight. ? Los Angeles has the league's sixth-best power play with a success rate of 22.2 percent.

Predators injuries: D Shea Weber (knee) and F Steve Sullivan (back) are out.

Kings injuries: None.

 

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Expect new Predators line combinations tonight

Trotz seeks cure for 5-game skid with hard work


LOS ANGELES ? Southern California's poultry population can rest easy this morning.

Predators Coach Barry Trotz is concerned about his team's five-game losing streak and its one goal over the last two games, but he's not yet ready to do anything too rash.


"I'm not going to sacrifice any live chickens or anything like that,'' he said.

The Predators (2-5) hope to snap out of their struggles with more conventional cures: lineup tweaks, improved power-play efforts, a commitment to defense and a continued belief that the current system will eventually pay dividends.

"It's like a salesman having a good product,'' Trotz said. "Do we believe in our product? Yes we do. It's a product that's going to win games.''

It appears the Predators will try some different line combinations tonight against the Kings. At practice on Monday, Martin Gelinas moved up alongside Jason Arnott and J.P. Dumont, taking the spot Scott Nichol had occupied for the last two games.

"He skates well and he sees the ice well,'' Arnott said of Gelinas. "For J.P. and I, to have another playmaker on the line is a good thing for us. He knows how to play in his own zone and he can make great plays for us, so we'll see what happens.''

Vern Fiddler moved into Gelinas' old slot, alongside center Radek Bonk and right wing Jed Ortmeyer.

"We don't want to reinvent the wheel,'' Trotz said. "But we're still in the process of finding out where everyone fits. It's a little bit of a puzzle.''

Sources of offense

Dumont understands the Predators don't have the firepower they did last season, but that means scoring goals on the power play is even more of a priority.

Nashville is scoreless in its last 10 man-advantage opportunities and is ranked 21st in the league with a 16.1 percent power-play success rate.

"We need the power play to get us going,'' Dumont said. "Even if we don't score a goal on it, we should be creating the kind of chances that give us momentum. That way, when we go back to five-on-five, we're still rolling.''

The team can't get so preoccupied with creating offense it ignores defense, Trotz said. The Preds saw that happen in sloppy games against Phoenix and Calgary, when Nashville surrendered 13 goals.

"Offense is the result of a few things ? hard work, execution and checking,'' Trotz said. "If you can't check, you can't score.

"People might say a certain line has value because they're scoring. But if they're giving up chances, that's not a valuable line. A valuable line is being able to really defend well and create chances off that.''

Buying into the system

The last element in the attempt to turn matters around ? belief in the system ? will always be tested during a losing streak. But no one is ready to throw up his hands.

"We just have to keep telling ourselves, 'Stay with it, stay positive,' '' Arnott said. "The last few games, we've stuck to the system and worked hard, but we haven't had the outcome. We'll get that next.''

 

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Crawford calls trade rumors 'a fabrication'

Kings coach says there is 'no basis' for speculation that the team is listening to offers for Frolov and Brown in exchange for a goalie.

It's almost a rite of fall. You know it will happen at some point, and it's not quite hockey season until one is printed in a newspaper.

So, welcome to the first random trade rumor from north of the border.This one, in the Ottawa Sun, involved the Kings listening to offers for forwards Alexander Frolov and Dustin Brown in exchange for a goalie.

"There's no basis to that," Kings Coach Marc Crawford said Monday after practice in El Segundo. "Everybody, reporters and probably coaches alike, try to fantasize about trades. They're exactly that -- they are fantasies. That trade would never happen. Ever.

"It's a fabrication by somebody saying, 'That might work. They need a goalie. And boy, who could we get that's young and inexpensive?' And those are the names. They look at the salary chart and say, 'These guys are inexpensive. That makes sense.' But it really doesn't."

Dean Lombardi, the Kings' president and general manager, said Friday in Vancouver that the offers coming his way right now aren't as good as one he rejected in the summer in which the Kings would have given up young goalie Jonathan Bernier and a No. 1 draft pick for a front-line goalie.

Crawford echoed that sentiment and also spoke about his two goalies, Jason LaBarbera and J.S. Aubin.

"We're not going to do anything with our good young players," Crawford said. "And we're going to continue to try to get the goalies we've got to continue to keep improving their games. Jason has played two pretty good games, albeit one was only for a period. We've got something to build on there.

"In J.S's case, he bounced a little bit his second performance [against the Flames], but coming off a long injury, that's not uncommon, that you'll bounce. That's a horse racing term."

Keeping with that theme, Aubin won't be getting back on the horse tonight. LaBarbera will make his second consecutive start. He came on in relief of Aubin at the start of the third period in Calgary on Thursday.