Nashville, TN (My Sportsbook) - Marcel Goc scored the eventual deciding goal early in the third period, and the Nashville Predators held on for a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

J.P. Dumont, Jerred Smithson and Jason Arnott also scored for the Predators, who have won three in a row. Pekka Rinne stopped 20 shots as Nashville also took its sixth consecutive victory against the Kings.

"It was important for us to get a win," Goc said. "We have to get as many points as we can in a playoff race."

Drew Doughty and Alexander Frolov had the goals for Los Angeles, which had won its last two, including Tuesday's 5-1 rout of Dallas in its first game back from the Olympic break. Jonathan Quick allowed three goals on 31 shots in the loss.

"We were lacking in intensity and hard work," Kings defensemen Anze Kopitar said. "We took some lazy penalties and gave them the momentum."

Just after a faceoff in the Predators zone in the first minute of game, Frolov collected the loose puck and put a backhander past Rinne at the 54-second mark.

Dumont evened the game at 4:32, though, and the Predators went ahead in the second period while skating on the power play.

With the man advantage down to its final few seconds, Martin Erat skated behind the net with the puck, emerged on the right side and sent a cross-ice pass to the left circle. Arnott then beat Quick stick-side at the 13:09 mark for a 2-1 lead.

Goc made it 3-1 only 2:30 into the third with a wrister from the slot, though Doughty got the goal back a little more than four minutes later with the Kings on the power play.

However, Rinne held firm and Smithson's empty-netter in the final minute secured the win.

Game Notes

The Predators have scored a power-play goal in a season-high eight games in a row. They finished 1-for-5 with the man advantage Thursday...Los Angeles forward Ryan Smyth had an assist on Doughty's goal for his 700th career point.