As you may or may not know, the Long Beach Press-Telegram hyas moved from its century-long home at Sixth and Pine, and moved down the street to the wonderful ARCO Towers down on Ocean. The view is spectacular, if you work during the day. However at night, we are treated to windows which reflect our ugly mugs back at us.

And as you may or may not have encountered yourself, things don't always go the way you hope they go. Case in point, the Sports Department has NO televisions. The whole floor has no televisions, which has been driving everyone crazy.

You don't realize just how much you rely upon those TVs to keep track of what's going on. Usually, both of the TVs in Sports are tuned to different games. In the late fall, more often than not, it's either Lakers and Clippers and UCLA basketball. On the rare occasion I can get control of the set, I turn to watch Kings games. But it is usually met with groans and complaints from my co-workers. So usually, I tune into the games via the radio or online.

But something happens tnoght, as I drag my old boom-box from home to listen to Nick Nickson and Daryl Evans: I can't get any reception on the 14th floor! I prefer the radio as opposed to the online feed, because it's the more current feed. Plus, when I am thrown a bone by the net-heads, I can follow along with the action, even with the sound turned down. (Oh yeah, if I get to watch hockey in Sports, that's just what I do. Watch. They turn the sound way down, citing it's 'too distracting.' Oddly, they have no problem focusing when Kobe is playing. Hmmmmmm)

So, I tune in tonight to find out Dan Cloutier, who is making his fourth straight start, tweaked his leg or seomthing during warmups. I just roll my eyes and just know what's going to happen tonight. The Predators are without their stud goaltender, Tomas Vokoun, who tore some ligaments in his thumb, which should bode well for L.A.

Right from the get-go, L.A. seems to be a step slow. Cloutier faces a bunch of shots, and he makes some solid saves in the first period. But the Preds are dictating the pace of the game. The Kings seem to be continuing to keep their defensive mindset of the last several games by protecting Cloutier. But it seems that Nasville is getting better opportunities.

The Preds' Jordin Tootoo leveled Mike Weaver as he tried to carry the puck in the Kings' zone, and both teams huddle around. But nothing transpires. Tootoo has changed his number this season, to the number 22. (22, Two-two... get it? Very clever.)

The Predators continue to pressure the Kings more, as L.A. fails to be able to clear the puck several times. It's just a matter fo time before that bites them in the rear. The Kings best chance at a goal was a Lubomir Visnovsky one-timer, that clanks off the post.

As the buzzer rang, Dustin Brown played the body on J.P. Dumont, and both men go crashing down to the ice. Brown loses his helmet, as the Predators rush around. Words were exchanged, probably holiday well-wishes, and we head into the locker room.

Even though Nashville has dictated the pace, both teams wind up with 8 shots. And even though there were several chippy plays, there were no penalties in the first period. Ten was the operative word for the Kings in the first, as they had ten hits, ten giveaways and then blocked shots. Fortunately for L.A., they were able to keep the game within reach with all those giveaways.

First period: Kings 0, Predators 0

The defensive mindset of the first period goes on the wayside, and the guy who gets it all started is Paul Kariya. He draws two hooking penalties, one from Brown and the other from Alexander Frolov. On their second power play, the Predators tally the first score of the game, as Martin Erat fires a pass from the goal to Scott Hartnell, who taps it past Cloutier to put Nashville up, 1-0.

Jeff Cowan gets leveled by Dan Hamhuis as both teams play in the nuetral zone. Cowan gets up, but is grabbed from behind by Scott Hartnell, and both playersa are whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct. The only unsportsmanlike behavior I saw was Hartnell throttling Cowan by his jersey neck, as he was trying to get at Hamhuis.

Kimmo Timonen recieves two minutes for hooking Lubomir Visnovsky, to put L.A. up a man during the unsportsmanlike conduct calls. As the Kings get a skater back to make it five-on-four, Anze Kopitar had a close chance at a goal, when it looks like the goaltender gloves the shot and it looks like it crossed the plane. But the call stands as no goal. Then, in a defensive lapse, Peter Harrold turns the puck over while trying to handle the puck directly in front of Cloutier, and Jerred Smithson scores an unassisited shorthanded goal. That goal took all the wind out of the Kings power play, as they can't convert.

Jeff Cowan gets a penalty against Tootoo, and the Kings go on the penalty kill. But Kimmo Timonen fires a shot, through traffic, past Cloutier to make it 3-0. Recently, the Preds have been dreadful on the power play the last 5 games, going 1-for-21. Tonight, they have 2 out of 4 so far.

It looks as if the Kings, who should be fresh and should be outplaying a team in their second back-to-back game, are just out of sync. The Harrold turnover seemed to be the turning point for the game. L.A. would be whistled two more times in the second, but are able to kill them off. But allowing so many penalties in the period, the Kings were fortunate that the Predators didn't score more.

Second period: Predators 3, Kings 1

Nashville's Scott Nichol gets two minutes for slashing Rob Blake, and Alexander Frolov pops the puck over the goaltender and in, to put the Kings down only two goals.

The Kings put themselves in a very bad position, when Sean Avery gets put in the box for hooking, then a minute later Rob Blake follows for the same things, putting the Kings down two men. L.A. is able to get Avery out of the box, but Alexander Radulov scores on the Blake penalty to put Nashville back up three goals.

Throughly disgusted, I threw my headphones across the room, shattering them into a million pieces. So I'm unable to listen to the rest of the period. Everyone just rolls their eyes at me, since they know that the Kings are probably losing again. Fortunately for me, neither team scored the rest of the game.

Third period: Predators 4, Kings 1

Hopefully, we can get out TVs soon, because I miss them.