LOS ANGELES – They were hoping to avoid their first season sweep against the Nashville Predators in four years and thanks to Jeff Carter continuing his dominance, the Los Angeles Kings made sure the Preds didn’t get the satisfaction.

As I mentioned, Jeff Carter continued his dominance this season by separating the men from the boys on this night. After a scoreless first period, the big man came through on the power play, scoring his 12^th5:28 into the second which stood as the only tally of the middle frame.

Mar 4, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings ice crew member shovels hats thrown onto the ice after the third goal by center Jeff Carter (not pictured) for a hat trick against the Nashville Predators at the Staples Center. The Kings defeated the Predators 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

In the third, the Kings exploded as Carter scored his second of the night 4:39 into the period and capitalizing again just 19 seconds later for the natural hat-trick.

A few minutes later, it was Mike Richards on the power play scoring his 5^th followed by Dwight King registering his first tally of the year to make it 5-0 Los Angeles leading Nashville to pull Pekka Rinne in favour of Chris Mason. Rinne may have recorded a shutout the last time these two teams met but the Kings made sure to prove how that was nothing but a distant memory.

In addition to Carter’s big night, he wasn’t the only King that produced on Monday. Slava Voynov helped out with three assists while Jarret Stoll chipped in with a pair of helpers himself.

While he wasn’t the busiest, Jonathan Bernier was up to the task, good when he had to be. The only downside is that his shutout was spoiled late by Gabriel Bourque but let’s be honest, if that was the worst that happened to the Kings on this night, then that’s pretty good as Los Angeles has rebounded from their Saturday night loss in Vancouver and have now won eight of their last 10 games and currently find themselves in a five-way tie in the West with 24 points.

But it’s right back to work as the Kings look to continue their winning ways on Tuesday night when they play host to the St. Louis Blues.

January 31, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (35) blocks a shot as center Mike Fisher (12) helps to defend against Los Angeles Kings center Jeff Carter (77) and left wing Kyle Clifford (13) during the first period at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Previewing the Los Angeles Kings’ 2012-13 season:
Game 20 vs. Nashville, March 4, 2013, 7:30pm PST (10:30pm EST)While their five-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday, the Los Angeles Kings return home to close out their season series with the Nashville Predators on Monday night. This will mark the third and final meeting between the clubs with the Preds winning both, first 2-1 in Los Angeles on January 31 and 3-0 in the Music City on February 7.

Despite their stellar goaltending recently, the Kings suffered a setback in Vancouver over the weekend as Jonathan Quick allowed four goals on shots he probably should have had. Given his success lately in addition to his winning ways against Nashville, don’t be surprised to see Jonathan Bernier get the call instead of Quick who played in both losses this season.

While the Kings have been notorious for their lack of offense in recent weeks, the Predators currently have the league’s worst offense at 2.0 goals per game and are hoping for another subpar performance from whichever Los Angeles goaltender so they can improve in said department.

At 9-8-5, Nashville sits one point ahead of Los Angeles in the West standings but being that they lost four of their last five and five straight away from home, Monday may just be Los Angeles’ lucky night as they hope to leapfrog their opponents in the conference. In their last four games, the Preds have also allowed seven power play goals on 13 opportunities and given that the Kings have improved immensely on the man-advantage since the last meeting between the two clubs, the Preds may need to do whatever they can to stay out of the box.

While Nashville does hope to sweep the Kings for the first time in four years, they must also take into account how much better their opponents have been in capitalizing on their scoring chances in recent weeks. In spite of being outscored 4-1 in the two previous meetings, Los Angeles has outshot the Preds 56-28 over the course of those two games and that may end up being the difference in an otherwise close contest.

Enjoy the game!