LOS ANGELES -- With three weeks to go in the regular season, the surging Los Angeles Kings have their eyes squarely set on a playoff berth. Jesus Navas Jersey . And, theyre gaining momentum at just the right time in the tightly packed Western Conference race. Dustin Penner sparked a three-goal third-period blitz that broke open a tie game and carried the Kings to a 4-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, extending their winning streak to four games in the opener of a four-game homestand. Penner, Dwight King and Kyle Clifford all found the net during a span of 8 minutes, 15 seconds against Pekka Rinne, who was trying to become the first goalie this season to reach the 40-win mark and the first in Predators history. The Kings seventh win in nine games, coupled with San Joses 3-2 overtime win against Detroit, tied Los Angeles with the Sharks for the eighth and final playoff spot, one point behind seventh-place Colorado and one ahead of 10th-place Phoenix. "Were keeping pace. Thats it. Its too bad we cant gain any ground," coach Darryl Sutter said. "You just have to take care of business as much as you can." The Kings are only one point behind Pacific Division-leading Dallas, and could take over third place in the conference by overtaking the Stars. Los Angeles will end the regular season with a home-and-home set against San Jose. "Weve been playing really well. Its playoff hockey for us already, so we just have to keep it going," centre Trevor Lewis said. "We have to just keep winning, and that will determine our fate." Anze Kopitar had the Kings other goal and Jonathan Bernier made 19 saves in his 12th start of the season, improving to 6-1-0 lifetime against. Nashville. "When youre going to the playoffs, you have to find a way to bury teams, and thats what we did tonight," Bernier said. "We played very intense all night, and thats why we got the two points." Martin Erat and Mike Fisher scored for the Predators, and Rinne stopped 23 shots. Nashville is two points behind the Red Wings for fourth place in the conference and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The score was tied at 1 when Lewis knocked the puck away from Nashville defenceman Ryan Suter along the left boards at the Kings blue line. That started an odd-man rush with Penner, who redirected Lewis cross-ice feed past Rinnes stick from the edge of the crease for his sixth goal of the season. "I think we all almost passed out in the corner there, screaming so loud," Lewis said. "It was a lot of fun. Weve been playing together for a little while now. Weve been talking a lot about the plays we can make and using our speed, and it was working for us out there tonight." King added his fourth goal with 6:58 to play, sliding the puck past Rinnes outstretched right leg after Jeff Carter stole the puck from Jordin Tootoo at the red line on a Nashville rush. "Things are going to happen -- a good play, a mistake here and there -- but you just have to hold it at that and then see if you can get the next one and get it tied up," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We didnt do a good job. We turned the puck over in the neutral zone." Clifford added his fifth goal with 3:41 remaining, beating Rinne with a short backhander after catching up to Jordan Nolans high clearing pass across two lines. "It was a good play. I talked to Jordan about making those plays," Sutter said. "He can make really good delayed plays. Sometimes hes trying to play safe while hes there, but if you can make a high percentage play like he did and we use our speed, then good things comes out of the third period." The Kings opened the scoring for the ninth time in their last 11 games, as Kopitar got the puck from Penner and beat Rinne high to the glove side with a screened 35-foot wrist shot from the right circle for his 23rd goal. Patric Hornqvist hobbled off the ice after he was stuck by a one-timer off the stick of teammate Sergei Kostitsyn about 7 1/2 minutes into the second period. He returned a few minutes later and drew a cross-checking penalty against Kings captain Dustin Brown that led to the tying goal. Hornqvist parked himself in front of the crease during the ensuing power play and distracted Bernier just enough to allow Erats one-timer from the right point to get past him on the stick side at 13:43 of the second period. It was the 18th goal this season for Erat, who has 17 points in his last 17 games against Los Angeles. Notes: The Predators came in with a league-leading 21.4 power-play percentage. ... Bernier has allowed fewer than three goals in eight of his last nine starts, including a 4-0 win at Minnesota on Feb. 28. ... The Kings are 4-4-2 when Kopitar scores their first goal -- and in the four losses, he had their only goals. ... The Kings next game on Tuesday night against San Jose will be Sutters 900th regular-season game as an NHL coach. He was behind the Sharks bench for 434 of them. ... Nashvilles David Poile overtook Harry Sinden for second place on the all-time list for games as a general manager with his 2,235th, trailing only Glen Sather. ... Los Angeles has 18 first-period goals in its last 11 games. ... Rinne, who signed a seven-year, $49 million contract extension on Nov. 3, leads the league with 1,794 saves and has faced a league-high 1,942 shots. Wilfried Bony Jersey . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. Yaya Toure Manchester City Jersey . Down by three runs in the early going and in danger of dropping into a huge hole, the Giants and their fans rallied. The win ensured the Series will go back to Kansas City to decide the championship. In the meantime, theres Game 5 on Sunday when post-season ace Madison Bumgarner starts for the Giants against struggling James Shields. ARLINGTON, Texas -- Shin-Soo Choo is already having a positive influence at the top of the Texas Rangers lineup. Adrian Beltre has been clutch for them since 2011. For the second night in a row, they played big in a winning ninth-inning rally. Choo drew a bases-loaded, game-ending walk against Jonathan Papelbon as the Rangers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 Wednesday to clinch the season-opening series. "Its really special for us," said Choo, who signed a seven-year free-agent deal with the Rangers this winter. "Thats why you play nine innings, and thats what we do every night is play nine innings," manager Ron Washington said. "In the end, we did what we had to do. We got focused and put some good at-bats together and made things happen." Beltre, whose ninth-inning single Tuesday night drove home Choo with the winning run, started this three-run rally with a leadoff single. After Mitch Morelands double, pinch-hitter Jim Adduci had an RBI infield single and Leonys Martin singled home the tying run. Donnie Murphy walked on four pitches before Choo got to full-count pitch before walking. Adduci reached on a slow roller down the third-base line with one out before Martin grounded a single through the drawn-in infield. "The whole inning was kind of just one of those innings. You get a cue ball down the third base line. Then you get a double-play ball, which you think is the game-ending double play. Its not," said Papelbon, who gave up four hits and two walks while retiring only on batter. "My whole focus was get a ground ball, get a double play and get us out of the inning." Seth Rosin (1-0) worked two scoreless innings for his first major league victory. Moreland had a triple in the seventh and scored on Martins two-out single. "Its a nice way to start the season," Moreland said. "We really came together these last couple of games.Jason Denayer Manchester City Jersey. " Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer and Kyle Kendrick allowed only one run over seven innings for the Phillies, who still havent won a road series since Ryne Sandberg took over as their manager last August -- first on an interim bases before getting the full-time gig. The Phillies lost 24 of 32 games over their final 10 road series last season. They split four games against the New York Mets last August in Sandbergs first series on the road -- but had dropped the previous five series away from home, and then lost the last four. They won this years season opener 14-10 before consecutive ninth-inning losses. Texas left-hander Robbie Ross struck out seven over five innings in his first major league start after 123 relief appearances the past two seasons. He allowed three runs and seven hits with two walks. Howards homer made it 3-0 in the third. It was his first homer since July 5, when he went deep in his final game last season before going onto the disabled list because of left knee inflammation. After Philly got an unearned run in the first after centre fielder Martin bobbled the ball for an error, Texas failed to score in the bottom of the inning after two hits and two errors by the Phillies. Choo got caught in a rundown and tagged out between third base and home after Kendrick initially dropped a grounder. NOTES: The Phillies were a player short after SS Jimmy Rollins returned home to be with his wife for the birth of their second child. ... Texas said ace RHP Yu Darvish will make his season debut Sunday at Tampa Bay. He was put on the disabled list because of neck stiffness. ... Rangers INF Adam Rosales cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to Triple-A Round Rock. ... Both teams are off Thursday before road games Friday. The Phillies play the Chicago Cubs for the opener marking the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field, and the Rangers are at Tampa Bay. cheap custom jerseys wholesale jerseys store cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseyswholesale jerseys ' ' '
