Quick makes 35 saves, Kings defeat Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jonathan Quick made 35 saves, and the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 at BB&T Center on Friday.
Quick allowed five goals in each of his previous two starts. It was his second win in nine games.

"(He was) really solid," Kings coach John Stevens said. "I thought he was a calming force for us back there. Anytime there was maybe a little chaos about to start, he held on to pucks, get face-offs, get reorganized. He just looked like he was really solid and comfortable in the net, and I think he gave us a lot of confidence by him playing that way."
WATCH: [All Kings vs. Panthers highlights]
Nicholas Shore, Jonny Brodzinski and Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings (30-19-5), who have won three games in a row and five of six. Defenseman Derek Forbort had three assists.
The Kings, who are in second place in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames, opened a season-long seven-game road trip that continues Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"It's a big trip for us," Shore said. "It was important that we didn't look past tonight. This is the first game of the trip and it's always way better when you start off with a win."
Aaron Ekblad scored for the Panthers (23-23-6), who were trying to match their season-high five-game winning streak and are eight points out of the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Harri Sateri made 23 saves in his fifth consecutive start.
"We won four of the last five, so I think we're heading in the right direction, we just can't have these slip-ups," Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck said. "Great teams don't slip up, they play consistently, and that's what we need to do right now."

The Kings trailed 1-0 before fourth-liners Shore and Brodzinski scored in the second period.
Shore, who was a healthy scratch the previous two games, tied it 1-1 at 3:09 when he beat Sateri with a close-range wrist shot high to the glove side.
Brodzinski scored at 16:03 when his backhand from the top of the right face-off circle went past sliding defenseman Mike Matheson and off forward Denis Malgin's body.
"We thought that line was good for us," Stevens said of Shore, Brodzinski and Andy Andreoff, who had an assist on Shore's goal. "We actually thought that line got us going when we were a little bit on our heels in the first period. That's what you love to see. Those guys are putting pucks in deep, they were winning a lot of puck races and puck battles. Nice to see them get rewarded."
Kopitar made it 3-1 25 seconds into the third period with a backhand redirection of a centering pass from Alex Iafallo high to the glove side.

Ekblad gave Florida a 1-0 lead when he scored on the power play at 11:32 of the first period against the top-ranked penalty kill in the NHL (84.8 percent). After Malgin's shot from the right circle caromed off the end boards, Ekblad gathered the puck to the left of the Los Angeles net and shot it past sliding defenseman Alec Martinez before Quick could get back in position.
The Panthers were outscored 3-0 in the second and third periods despite outshooting the Kings 28-15.
"We played great," Quick said. "That's a really good hockey team, so to come in their building and get two points, you've got to play a great game. You need all 20 guys to play well, and we did."

Goal of the game

Kopitar's goal 25 seconds into the third period.

Save of the game

Quick stopping Alex Petrovic at 9:23 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Aleksander Barkov's between-the-legs shot at 3:10 of the first period.

They said it

"Obviously, we've got some high-end guys on this team, like [Anze Kopitar], who carries the team on a nightly basis, but it's kind of an onus for everybody to chip in, be a part of getting two points." -- Kings forward Nick Shore, who scored after being a healthy scratch the two previous games
"We had chance after chance after chance in the second period, and we missed. That was the difference in the game." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner

Need to know

Martinez was back in the Kings lineup after missing two games because of a lower-body injury. He had a two shots on goal, two hits and a Kings-high six blocked shots in 22:15. … Los Angeles forward Trevor Lewis left the game with 4:26 remaining in the third period after he was checked into the boards by Jared McCann after taking a shot. Stevens said he thought Lewis would be fine. … Florida goalie James Reimer dressed for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury against the Dallas Stars on Jan. 23.

What's next

Kings: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Panthers: At the Edmonton Oilers on Monday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-F, NHL.TV)