Deadmarsh Leaves No Doubts

If Adam Deadmarsh’s sprained right wrist was bothering him Saturday night against Nashville, you couldn’t tell from the two goals and one assist he had in the Kings’ 6-5 overtime victory at Staples Center.

Deadmarsh, who was listed as questionable after sitting out the Kings’ overtime loss at Chicago on Thursday, scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season and defenseman Jaroslav Modry scored two goals, including the game-winner for the Kings in front of a sellout crowd of 18,118.

Deadmarsh, who has six goals in his last four games, said the absence of injured center Jason Allison had nothing to do with his decision to play.

“I just want to be in the lineup as much as possible and felt this morning that I would be able to go,” he said.

The Kings, who improved to 6-2-2-1, also received a big game from rookie Alexander Frolov, who scored two goals to help overcome an off game for goaltender Felix Potvin, who stopped 23 of 28 shots.

“We came back from the road trip and wanted to play a tight defensive game and tonight was totally opposite of what we were looking for,” said Modry, who has scored all three of his goals this season in the last two games. “It was just a crazy game, but it had a good ending. We finished with one more goal than them and that’s what counts.”

To say that the Predators were struggling before Saturday’s game would be an understatement. Nashville had won only one of its first nine games and was coming off an embarrassing 7-0 loss at St. Louis on Wednesday.

But the Predators started fast against the Kings, highlighted by a productive power play that scored two goals in four man-advantage situations during the first period.

Nashville forward David Legwand scored the first goal only 1 minute 50 seconds into the game when he found himself open in the slot and beat Potvin for his third score of the season.

That set the stage for Deadmarsh’s first goal of the game on a nifty redirect off a blue-line shot by Bryan Smolinski to beat Nashville goaltender Mike Dunham at 15:52. What made Deadmarsh’s score so impressive was that he had to fully extend his arm to reach the puck.

After Andreas Johansson gave the Predators a 2-1 lead when his shot deflected off Potvin, who knocked the puck into the net himself with 51 seconds remaining in the period, the Kings dominated the second period. They got goals from Deadmarsh and Modry.

But the Kings could not keep their 3-2 lead in a third period, which featured five goals.

Nashville regained the lead by scored goals 61 seconds apart. Predator winger Vladimir Orszagh tied the score, then Legwand put Nashville back on top with his second goal of the game at 4:12.

But the Kings answered with Frolov’s first goal of the game when he picked up a bouncing rebound off a shot by Deadmarsh at 6:29. However, the Predators scored again on a power-play goal by Adam Hall at 11:22 before Frolov finished the scoring in regulation with another rebound goal at 13:15.

In overtime, the Kings finally put the Predators away when Modry fired home his power-play goal 1:45 into the extra period.

“We obviously don’t win many games when we play like we did tonight, but we found a way,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “And that’s the most important thing.”