Verhaeghe, Bennett help Panthers stay hot with win against Kings

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers won their third straight game with a 3-2 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday.

Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell scored for the Panthers (18-13-2), who have won six of their past seven. Brad Marchand had two assists, and Daniil Tarasov made 27 saves.

“There was a lot of offense that was left in the neutral zone by plays that did not get completed,’’ said Florida coach Paul Maurice, whose team pulled into a tie with the Montreal Canadiens for the final wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference after being in last place in the East on Dec. 2.

“We found a way to win a game. We’re in that mode right now. We’re not looking for perfection right now.”

Joel Armia and Kevin Fiala scored for the Kings (14-10-9), who have lost four straight (0-2-2). Anton Forsberg made 25 saves.

“It was a competitive game. When you play those guys, you’re going to be challenged physically,’’ Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “I thought we were toe-to-toe with them and were down one when the whistle blows. … We hit three posts and missed three breakaways. There were some other chances from deflections, and we were around their net.’’

Armia gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 13:39 of the first period on the power play, scoring just the second goal against the Florida penalty kill this month when he deflected a shot from Brandt Clarke that dropped to the ice and went between the skates of Tarasov.

Florida has successfully killed off 29 of 31 penalties over nine games thus far in December, including three of four on Wednesday.

“I thought it was good in the first, got away from us a bit in the second, and then obviously a rough start to the third,’’ Los Angeles forward Alex Laferriere said. “We responded well to that and took it to them a little bit in the third. Just have to bear down on our chances, try to score goals. We just can’t score goals right now so it’s frustrating, but it will show the resiliency of our group.”

Lundell’s power-play goal tied it 1-1 at 2:14 of the second period when he redirected a point shot from Aaron Ekblad.

“I think it was a strong performance by us,” Lundell said. “Their second goal was a little weird, but it didn’t stop us. We kept fighting. [Tarasov] was unbelievable, took like 10 breakaways and kept us in the game. … The past couple of weeks, I feel like it has just clicked.”

Verhaeghe gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 7:04, scoring off a shot toward a crowd in front of the net, which hit a Los Angeles defender and snuck past Forsberg. It was his ninth goal in the past 11 games.

The line of Bennett, Verhaeghe, and Marchand has been key for Florida in this recent run of success.

“It’s a lot of fun playing with those two,’’ Verhaeghe said. “They’re skilled players and we’re finding each other in the zone and [the goals] are going now. The start of the year was a little struggle to get going, but they’re finally starting to go. I don’t know what changed, but we’re having fun out there.’’

Bennett scored 10 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1. Marchand intercepted a clearing attempt deep in the zone before sending a quick, sharp-angled shot to the net that hit the stick of Bennett and went past Forsberg.

Bennett, who was Verhaeghe’s intended target on Florida’s second goal, has four goals in his past five games.

“We have some juice, right?” Maurice said. “As we get closer to the halfway mark, we get closer to the returning players. We also get that light at the end of the tunnel where there aren’t 70 games left. It’s a little easier to get fired up for games. Winning is everything, right? A little bit of confidence, and a whole bunch of guys scoring goals right now.”

Los Angeles cut it to 3-2 at 4:48. Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling went to clear the puck from near his own goal line, but the puck hit Fiala in the shin pad and went about 20 feet at a sharp angle toward the Florida net and in.

“Tonight, like in Dallas, thought were pretty solid games both nights,’’ Los Angeles defenseman Mikey Anderson said, referring to Monday’s 4-1 loss to the Stars.

“But if you’re not getting points, it feels almost useless. No one is happy … if you don’t win, you don’t feel too happy about how you played. It’s one or two bounces, but we need those to go our way if we want to go where we want to go.”

Tarasov responded after the the flukey goal, stopping Trevor Moore on a big breakaway in the third and helping Florida kill a late Los Angeles power play with Forsberg pulled for 1:15 of it to give the Kings a 6-on-4 advantage.

“Just trying to be calm because there were not a lot of shots at the start of the game, could focus on every shot,” Tarasov said. “The guys did an awesome job on the point and slot shots. I was trying to be focused [that] if something happened, just be there. Help the guys. Really happy for this. Huge win for us.’’

NOTES: Florida forward Evan Rodrigues left the game after being hit along the boards on a clearing attempt with six minutes remaining in the first period. Rodrigues returned for the second period, but left the game for good at 5:16 of the third with what Maurice described as a lower-body injury. “We don’t think it’s too significant,’’ Maurice said. … Bennett scored his 23rd game-winning goal with the Panthers, tied for sixth in franchise history with Stephen Weiss, Pavel Bure, and Verhaeghe. … Verhaeghe’s goal was his seventh since Dec. 1. Only three players have recorded more over that span: Connor McDavid (nine goals), Nathan MacKinnon (eight) and Alex DeBrincat (eight).