Jeff Carter recorded his fifth career three-goal game, leading the Kings to a 5-1 rout of the Nashville Predators on Monday night at Staples Center. Carter had a natural ha trick, scoring the Kings’ first three goals against the defensive-minded Predators.

“It was a big game for us,” Carter said after the Kings won their sixth in seven games and moved into fifth place in the Western Conference with an 11-7-2 record. “The last game in Vancouver we didn’t have our best effort. We came out and I don’t we started (Monday’s game) particularly well, but we stuck with it and it was pretty good hockey in the third period. I thought we had a little more speed to our game. We were gettng pucks in their end and playing physical and it was opening up holes for us.”

Carter scored once in the second and twice in the third, his team-leading 12th, 13th and 14th goals.