Marchand scores 2 more, Panthers pull away from Kings

LOS ANGELES -- Brad Marchand scored twice, and the Florida Panthers pulled away for a 5-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

Marchand has four goals during a three-game streak and six in his past five.

“Feel like everything he touched goes in the net, so just try to feed him the puck,” Florida center Anton Lundell said. “But you know, he’s a force in our offense and force in the locker room as well. Brad’s been unbelievable, and it’s fun to have him around and fun to play with him.”

Lundell scored a short-handed goal, Sam Reinhart also scored and Niko Mikkola had two assists for the Panthers (7-6-1), who are 3-1-1 in their past five. Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves.

Florida coach Paul Maurice was pleased by how the team responded after allowing five-unanswered goals in a 7-3 loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

“It’s not going to be perfect right now,” Maurice said. “We got some challenges, obviously, with our lineup, but once you get used to that and embrace the fact that it doesn’t have to be perfect, the fight for some things and grind, I thought that was our game tonight.”

Anze Kopitar and Corey Perry scored for the Kings (6-5-4), who went 1-2-1 on their four-game homestand. Anton Forsberg made 19 saves.

“The game is a game of mistakes,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “When somebody makes a mistake, then somebody takes advantage of it. And right now, when we’re making a mistake, they’re taking pretty good advantage of it.”

Sam Bennett gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 2:06 of the first period, collecting Jeff Petry’s rebound and scoring from below the left circle.

Kopitar tied it 1-1 at 9:23 by redirecting a wrist shot from the high slot by Adrian Kempe on the power play. It was Kopitar’s first goal of the season in 11 games.

Perry gave the Kings a 2-1 lead at 11:00.Mikey Anderson sent him in on a breakaway with a stretch pass, and he tucked a wrist shot under the crossbar.

Marchand tied it 2-2 at 17:30. He circled around and shot into an open net after Forsberg couldn’t control Aaron Ekblad’s long entry pass behind the net.

“He’s been outstanding for us all season,” Bobrovsky said of Marchand, who leads the Panthers in goals (nine) and points (15). “You know, he’s the one who drives us.”

Reinhart put Florida back ahead 3-2 at 11:45 of the second period after he put in the rebound of a Carter Verhaeghe shot with a backhand from the slot.

“I mean, he seems to score one every night, so no surprise he scored on his birthday,” Bennett said of Reinhart, who turned 30 on Thursday. “And, yeah, I think we have some cake in here for all the boys, so it’ll be nice.”

Lundell extended it to 4-2 at 8:41 of the third period with his short-handed goal. He got behind Kempe and Drew Doughty on a breakaway and beat Forsberg with a wrist shot from the slot.

“Short-handed goal when we have a chance to put our stamp on it, and we let one go the other way,” Hiller said. “Not the first time this year, either, so that’s a big momentum swing in the game.”

Marchand made it 5-2 with his second goal at 12:36, scoring on a wrist shot from the right circle after Mikkola forced a turnover in the offensive zone.

“We know we haven’t been our best on the road yet, and we want to change that,” Lundell said. “We’ve been a good road team, and we know we’re a better road team than we have played so far, so it was a big win for (the) team today.”

NOTES: Marchand matched the longest goal streak by a Panthers player age 37 or older, joining Joe Nieuwendyk (2005-06) and Dino Ciccarelli (1998-99). … The Kings have allowed three short-handed goals in their past three games. … It was the third time in the past 20 years that three players age 37 or older scored in the same game (Kopitar, Perry, Marchand). Shane Doan, Marian Hossa and Michal Rozsival all scored on Feb. 4, 2016, in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 5-4 overtime win against the Arizona Coyotes, and Jaromir Jagr, Bryce Salvador and Patrik Elias also did so on March 14, 2014, in the Panthers’ 5-3 win against the New Jersey Devils.