LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings entered Tuesday night seeking a bounce-back victory following Saturday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins while also looking to establish consistency on home ice.
Instead, the club's offensive droughts resurfaced as Los Angeles was shut out for the first time this season, falling 3-0 to the Nashville Predators at Crypto.com Arena.
The frustration surrounding another quiet night from the offense was evident postgame.
"I think everybody’s probably frustrated," head coach Peter Laviolette said. "We’re here to win hockey games and we’re not getting that done."
A matchup featuring battling surnames — Nashville forward Filip Forsberg facing off against Los Angeles goaltender Anton Forsberg — the Predators' star winger got the upper hand over his counterpart, striking twice to lead Nashville to a road win.
Both clubs averaged exactly 3.00 goals per game coming into the contest, reflecting similar scoring metrics on paper. On Tuesday night, however, Nashville simply executed while the Kings failed to convert on their own looks.
"There were point blank chances and rebound chances and just not able to capitalize," Laviolette said. "I don’t think we made the plays quick enough."
The Predators opened the scoring when Nils Hoglander intercepted a pass from Kings defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who then led a two-on-one odd-man rush down the ice, feeding Filip Forsberg, who buried a one-timer to put Nashville ahead with 14:40 remaining in the first period.
Dakota Gray - The Sporting Tribune
The Nashville Predators players celebrate a goal during their game against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, in Los Angeles.
After Los Angeles closed the first period with strong play in the defensive zone, the Hoglander-to-Forsberg connection struck again.
Halfway through the second period, Hoglander centered a pass to the two-time All-Star at the faceoff dot, where the 32-year-old Swede snapped a shot top-shelf for his seventh goal of the season, doubling the Predators' lead.
An empty-net tally by Adam Wilsby with under two minutes remaining slammed the door on a disappointing night for Los Angeles, dropping the club to 5-9-2 on the season.
"I think [we] didn't feel connected out there at all," winger Adrian Kempe said. "Overall, pretty disappointed."
While Anton Forsberg kept the Kings within striking distance, Predators goalie Juuse Saros delivered a flawless performance at the opposite end, stopping all 30 shots he faced to record his first shutout of the season.
When the offense sputters, wins are hard to come by for Los Angeles. Plain and simple.
In Laviolette's first season behind the bench, the Kings are 0-8-1 when scoring two goals or fewer, spotlighting a concerning trend early in the campaign. Los Angeles has struggled to extract wins from tightly contested, low-scoring games — finding success only when the offense is humming.
Despite surrendering two goals to his namesake counterpart, Anton Forsberg stood tall as one of the brightest spots on the ice for Los Angeles, turning aside 27 of 29 shots.
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Nov 10, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg (31) clears the puck during the first period against the Nashville Predators at Crypto.com Arena.
Yet when the veteran goalie gets the nod, run support remains elusive. In his six starts this season, the Kings are 0-5-1 while averaging a subpar 1.5 goals per game.
"He’s played good for us," center Scott Laughton said of Forsberg’s effort. "We need to find a way to find sustained zone time in the offensive zone, wear teams down, where they’re tired and we three-quarter ice them. It’s just not happening right now."
In order to find a rhythm and string wins together, individual accountability across the lineup will be vital moving forward.
"I haven’t been good enough," Laughton said. "I need to bring more to this group and I’m sure a lot of guys would say the same."
Frustrating results or not, Laughton believes the adversity hasn't fractured the room.
"There’s no finger pointing, I don’t think we have that in our group" Laughton said. "To get out of it, you need urgency. You need to have a collective effort to get going here."
Although Los Angeles hasn't started the season the way many hoped, the sentiment inside the locker room remains tailored toward collective belief and constant improvement.
"We're a good hockey team," Laughton said. "I believe that. We've got to have that belief in the group and we’ve got to continue to push forward here."