LOS ANGELES_The Los Angeles Kings returned from a four-day break Thursday, only to discover a lot has changed since they went away.
During that time the St. Louis Blues won two games, vaulting over the Kings into the Western Conference's final postseason berth. Vancouver earned four points in three games to sneak up on the Kings from behind. And Dallas pulled to within four points, joining Winnipeg in what is now a five-team race for one playoff spot.
That left the Kings with a lot of ground to make up when they took the ice against Nashville on Thursday and they got a good start on that by twice rallying from one-goal deficits before beating the Predators, 3-2, on Jarome Iginla's goal 3{ minutes into overtime.
The goal was Iginla's second of the game, his second since coming to the Kings in a trade-deadline deal last week and the 621st of his career while for the team the victory was just the second in five games. But the Kings have earned at least a point in four of those games, heating up just as the playoff race has begun to boil.
"It's awesome," Alec Martinez said of the win. "Especially since we've gone four days without a game."
All three Kings goals Thursday came on power plays, giving the team seven power-play goals in their last four games, while the win was the Kings' 23rd win in 29 overtime games since the NHL adopted the 3-on-3 format last season.
Marian Gaborik got the Kings other goal in the third period while Nashville got a first-period score from Calle Jarnkrok and another in the third period from Kevin Fiala.
Nashville struck first, scoring with just more than three minutes left in the first period after Roman Josi knocked the puck off the Gaborik's stick along the right boards. Jarnkrok collected the puck in the low slot, spun and snapped it past Jonathan Quick to put the Predators up 1-0 on just their third shot of the game.
The Kings tied it early in the second period when Iginla, positioned on the edge of the crease, gathered in a short pass from Gaborik just before it reached the pads of Nashville's Pekka Rinne, pulled the puck back to deke the goalie out of position, then pushed it past the goalie at the right post.
Fiala broke the tie 91 seconds into the final period, poking home a rebound during a scramble in the crease to give Nashville a 2-1 lead that lasted less than 10 minutes.
With another Kings' power play running down, Gaborik knocked down a Martinez shot from the point, then pushing puck under Rinne and into the net to send the game to overtime.
The game was chippy from the start, befitting a matchup of two desperate teams clawing for every point they can get. The Kings' Kyle Clifford and Nashville's Cody McLeod set the tone early, dropping their gloves just two minutes after the opening faceoff. Both earned five-minute majors for fighting but McLeod also picked up a cut on the bridge of his nose.
The Kings have 16 regular-season games remaining to make up their deficit in the playoff race, including Monday's crucial home meeting with St. Louis. But the schedule is a challenging one, featuring 13 games against teams who are also fighting a place in the postseason.
However the Kings do catch a break in where those games will be played, since 10 of them will be at the Staples Center.
