Predators Win 5-4 Shootout Over Kings, Tie for Wild-Card Spot

LOS ANGELES Luke Evangelista scored the lone goal in an eight-round shootout to give the Nashville Predators a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena, intensifying the battle for the Western Conference's second wild-card playoff spot.

The Predators, Kings and San Jose Sharks now sit tied with 79 points, though the Sharks hold a game in hand after their 4-1 win over Toronto earlier in the day. Nashville snapped a three-game losing streak with the win, despite squandering a three-goal lead in the third period. The Kings, who had climbed into the second wild-card position with a 2-1 overtime victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, have dropped six of their past eight games as the regular season winds down.

Juuse Saros made 29 saves in regulation and overtime for Nashville, then stopped all eight Kings shooters in the shootout to secure the two points. The first 15 attempts in the shootout missed the net before Evangelista deked Los Angeles goalie Darcy Kuemper and flipped a backhand past him for his first shootout goal of the season.

Filip Forsberg opened the scoring just 41 seconds into the game with his 35th goal on a shot Kuemper later...