Predators pounce with late strike

Ryan Jones scored with 2:18 left on the clock to give visiting Nashville a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, keeping the Predators in the hunt for a Western Conference play-off spot. Jones's backhand goal was his seventh of the season and moved Nashville (35-30-5) into seventh place in the West with just 12 games remaining of the regular season. The Kings' (29-30-10) slim hopes of grabbing one of the Conference's eight play-off spots faded further with this latest setback.

Anze Kopitar recorded his 25th goal of the season in the first period to give Los Angeles an early 1-0 lead before Shea Weber tied things up at 1-1 with a well taken goal. Nashville took a 3-2 lead going into the third period after goals from Joel Ward and Steve Sullivan sandwiched Teddy Purcell's strike in the second. Handzus scored at 9:53 of the third to tie the score at 3-3 before Jones sealed the win.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Thrashers set a team-record run of six successive wins after beating the Washington Capitals 6-1 in their clash. * With agencies