I love Human Guinea Pig Inflatable Ball races. That is all.

Kopitar was the Man in the faceoff dot in the first, winning 80% of the drops. Then he lost 5 out of 9 faceoffs in the second. He needs to improve that in the third.

It's back and forth, before Jack Johnson gets two minutes for interference.And on the penalty, Bailey the mascot is down by the ice. Since tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, he is Bailey O'Bailey, and is dressed in a neon green t-shirt. He immediately tries to rile upo the crowd by hammering on the ice, when a Nashville player skates by. First, he just pounds on the glass. Then he leaps up and follows the guy. Finally, Bailey hauls off and kicks at the glass, hard, much to the delight of the Staples crowd. And if he doesn't feel that in the morning, I'd be surprised.

The Kings kill the Johnson penalty, but the Predators are playing classic slowdown hockey. Do you know who hates slowdown hockey? Zeus. And you know what he does? He has the puck behind the net, skates out, and fires toward Pekka (...snort). The puck deflects off his pad and in the back of the net, as Staples Center erupts. Several chants break out on the resulting play, as the fans finally make themselves known.

The Bailey shananigans continues, as he bounds down the aisle, carrying what appears to be a pie. He taps a Predators' fan sitting on the aisle on the shoulder, then smashes him right in the face. If the guy wasn't a plant, I'd be surprised there isn't a lawsuit filed. He got h-a-m-m-e-r-e-d. It was impressive.

Anze Kopitar checks J.P. Dumont into the boards awkwardly, then stands there looking worried. Then gets knocked back to reality by a Nashville defender, as Anze skates off. No penalty is called, but you could tell Anze had no intention of hurting the guy. He's still new to this gritty, D-oriented system, and I'm sure he felt bad. However, Dumont was miling it a bit, as some of the Predator scratches sitting next to me were cracking up at Dumont's performance of just poised there, feigning injury. They help him off the ice as play continues.

Ryan Jones puts Nashville back on top, thanks to a miscommunication of defense. Quincey thought someone had his man, but that one was all his. And we're getting to crunch time.

Murray pulls Ersberg, just as Steve Sullivan gets a penalty. 6-on-4 for a minute, as the Kings hurry to get one back. Pekka (...snort) stops play with 22 seconds left. Murray takes a timeout to give his players some time to recoop and formulate their next plan of attack. Handzus, Brown, Kopitar,  Quincey and Frolov are out there to take the faceoff, but Nashville pulls it off, handing the Kings their third straight loss.

Final score: Predators 4, Kings 3