Potvin’s Stop Gets Things Going

Goaltender Felix Potvin, who watched without complaint as backup Jamie Storr made three consecutive starts and four in five games, returned to the lineup Saturday and stopped 20 shots in the Kings’ 4-2 victory over Nashville.

No save was more important than the one he made on a breakaway by Greg Johnson early in the second period with the score 1-1. It led to a goal by Lubomir Visnovsky seconds later and the Kings never trailed again.

“I thought Felix was solid,” Coach Andy Murray said. “I like the games where he doesn’t have to be spectacular. But he made a major difference in the game when he stopped that breakaway ... and we came back down and scored.

“That’s maybe the hockey game right there.”

Said Potvin: “It’s hard to sit when you like playing. You always want to be in there. But you can’t sit down and pout about it. I think you’ve got to go out there, work hard, and work your way out of this [slump]. I thought today the guys did a great job in front of me. I just tried to be there when they needed me.”

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Ziggy Palffy did not return after suffering a chest contusion when he was knocked into the end boards midway through the second period.... Defenseman Philippe Boucher suffered a broken nose in the third period when he was hit by the puck on a pass by the Predators’ Greg Classen but returned to deliver a bone-crunching hit late in the game. “I had to hit someone,” he said....

Defenseman Andreas Lilja, sidelined since suffering a knee injury Oct. 13 during a conditioning assignment in the minors, made his season debut. The Swede’s assist on a first-period goal by Craig Johnson was his first point in three NHL games....

Center Rob Valicevic, who had two points in 17 games, was reassigned to the Kings’ American Hockey League team at Manchester, N.H., leaving a roster spot open for winger Nelson Emerson. Emerson, sidelined since Oct. 30 because of post-concussion syndrome, is expected to return to the lineup this week and will make the three-game trip that starts Saturday at St. Louis, Murray said.