SoCal NHL Preview

Los Angeles (12-22-2) at Nashville (14-16-2), 5:00 pm, FSN
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) - It's the holiday season, but the Nashville Predators have not had much to celebrate this month. Martin Erat will try to help the Predators snap a five-game losing streak when they host the lowly Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Erat leads the club with 17 assists and 26 points this season. The 26-year-old Czech, however, has just a goal and an assist in seven games during December - a month that has seen the Predators go 2-7-0. Radek Bonk, Nashville's leading goal scorer with 11, has just three assists on the campaign. He has managed just one tally over the previous eight contests. Los Angeles is looking to end a six-game skid. The return of goaltender Jason LaBarbera, who missed eight games with a rib injury, has not seemed to help. LaBarbera has surrendered 11 goals over the past three contests since returning. The 27-year-old netminder did post his first shutout of the season against the Predators in a 6-0 triumph on October 23. Anze Kopitar has 15 tallies and a team-high 36 points this season.

Anaheim (17-15-5) at San Jose (18-11-5), 7:30 pm
SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) - The San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks have played four times this season, and only once have they avoided a shootout. Will it be more of the same when they meet for the third time this week? The Sharks earned a 2-1 shootout win over Anaheim in the opener of a home-and-home series on Sunday and the Ducks answered with a 2-0 victory Tuesday. Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan scored in the win and Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped all 20 shots he faced in the Ducks' victory. Giguere has started all four games between the teams and has not allowed more than two goals in any of those contests. Anaheim followed up Tuesday's win with a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche, while the Sharks fell, 3-2, in a shootout to the lowly Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday. The winner of Saturday's contest will have the inside track on passing front-runner Dallas (19-12-4) and moving into first place in the crowded Pacific Division.