The LA Kings (14-10-9) cut their third period deficit down to one, but weren’t able to find a late equalizer on Wednesday night, falling to the Florida Panthers (18-13-2) by a score of 3-2 at Amerant Bank Arena.
Joel Armia tallied a power play goal in the first period during the contest, while Kevin Fiala was credited with his 12th strike of the season and goaltender Anton Forsberg stopped 25 shots between the pipes in a losing effort.
The Kings got on the board first when Armia converted during a man-advantage at 13:39, scoring after a high-sticking call to Florida’s Sam Bennett. Alex Laferriere fed Brandt Clarke for a shot from the point that Armia redirected from in between the circles through a net-front screen by Corey Perry for his eighth goal of the year.
LA skated into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead after also killing off a pair of penalties to Armia in the opening 20.
Things changed quickly in the second, as the Panthers evened the game at 1-1 just 2:14 into the period, scoring a power play goal of their own. It was Anton Lundell who tipped the puck past Forsberg for his 11th goal of the year.
Florida followed up their strike with three more quality chances in quick succession, each of which was saved by Forsberg. Then, after the Kings’ netminder kept the game even, Fiala missed the net on a clean breakaway opportunity at the other end of the ice.
The Panthers went in front for the first time at 7:04 of the second and held that advantage into the locker room for the second intermission. A scramble in front of the Kings’ net led to a tally for Carter Verhaeghe, who knocked the puck to the crease before it ricocheted behind Forsberg.
Later in the frame, the Kings had a power play opportunity when Florida’s Noah Gregor was called for holding, but Adrian Kempe was called for slashing 15 seconds later when he broke up a shorthanded rush into the LA end. During 4-on-4 play, it was Trevor Moore’s turn for a breakaway chance, but his move was stopped by Panthers’ goaltender Daniil Tarasov.
The Kings had two other looks to tie the game before the end of the second that hit the post, including attempts by Perry and Joel Edmundson.
Florida added to its lead with an insurance goal by Sam Bennett just 10 seconds into the third period when Brad Marchand directed the puck toward the net for a deflection. The puck went off Bennett and up high over Forsberg’s shoulder to make it a 3-1 lead for the home team.
But the Kings wouldn’t go quietly, and got back within one with some puck luck of their own. At 4:48 of the third, Florida’s Gustav Forsling attempted to move the puck up the ice. His feed bounced off the skate of Fiala and redirected past Tarasov to make it a 3-2 game.
LA had multiple opportunities in the second half of the final period, including a power play with three minutes remaining that allowed them to pull Forsberg in exchange for an extra attacker and a 6-on-4 look, but couldn’t pull even.
Tarasov earned the win in the crease for the Panthers with 27 saves. LA ended the game with a 29-28 edge in shots on goal, while both clubs scored once on the man-advantage and ended with identical 1-for-4 percentage.
Postgame thoughts from Laferriere and Mikey Anderson, as well as head coach Jim Hiller, are below.
