Kings Show a Predatory Quality, 2-0

As far as the Kings are concerned, a wrong has been righted. A wound, largely self-inflicted, has healed.

After losing three of four games to Nashville in its infancy last season, the Kings showed Saturday in their season opener that they can prey on the Predators instead of the other way around.

All it took was adding a blue collar to those black sweaters. All it took was a little work--and the reincarnation of Jozef Stumpel--but even with that the reward was hardly assured until 12:11 of the final period of a 2-0 victory, when goalie Stephane Fiset skated up to Luc Robitaille and murmured, “Thanks.”

For two periods, Fiset should have shouted his appreciation to the King defense, which was helping him make a one-goal lead stand up by forechecking like Dobermans and keeping pressure on the Predators, who also were being pressed by 17,113 in the newly named Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Fiset turned in his 10th shutout as a King, but had to withstand a 15-shot assault in the third period to do it. The turned-up Predators weren’t tuned out until Robitaille’s goal, accomplished when he said goodbye to two Nashville defenders and sailed in alone on goalie Tomas Vokoun to one-time a pass from Stumpel.

Robitaille had reversed the order, feeding Stumpel for a power-play goal at 4:10 of the opening period, to create a tenuous King lead.

“We had outplayed them . . . but that was a really important goal,” Robitaille said of his score in the final period. “This is a team that plays hard. [Nashville] battles hard, but to come back from a two-goal deficit is a lot harder than one goal.”

It was impossible.

A one-goal lead, now that was a different story.

“Whew, that was a big relief,” Fiset said. “When it was 1-0 and you outshoot them like we did and they find a way to score a goal and tie the game, they can get the momentum.”

The Kings had momentum for most of two periods after starting flat, then picking up the pace when Stumpel scored.

The ice at the Kings’ end of the rink hardly needed Zamboni treatment during the first and second intermissions, so fervid was their defense at the Nashville end.

“Fiset didn’t have much to do for the first 40 minutes,” said Andy Murray, the Kings’ first-year coach. “What did they have, 10 or 12 shots? . . . Probably territorially, the game should have been over after the first 40 minutes.”

Instead, it was only 1-0, and the Kings had squandered many scoring chances.

“We were getting opportunities and were not putting them in,” Nashville’s Cliff Ronning said. “They have a couple of chances and then put it in.”

Actually, there weren’t all that many Predator chances until the final period, when they picked up the pace, sent defensemen on kamikaze runs goalward and put the Kings back on their heels and Fiset in business.

“We didn’t forecheck as well in the third period and that’s why they came at us,” Fiset said. “The first two periods, they just played unbelievable. If we play like this all year . . . we’re going to win many more games than last year.”

Still, there was that one-goal lead . . .

“You know, what we talked about . . . in the room after the second period,” said Murray, “[was that] if it takes 60 shots, we’re going to win the game tonight. . . . We wanted to just keep the pressure on them and keep coming at them.”

Instead, the Kings were outshot, 15-8, in the period, but Robitaille’s goal was a killer. It was the product of a meshing of the Kings’ No. 1 line.

“Our line kept working together throughout training camp, and Stumpel in the last three preseason games really turned it up,” Robitaille said. “He’s a force out there, and the way he holds on to that puck, he’s one of the top guys in the league.”

Stumpel was just that two seasons ago, when he led the Kings with 79 points. But last season, he had only 34 while frequently injured.

Now, he’s back.

“It feels good,” Stumpel said. “First of all, you want to be healthy, and when you’re healthy, you feel strong out there.”

Last year, he scored 13 goals and only one came on a power play. He tied that effort Saturday night.