After falling behind 3-0 against the Kings, the Panthers clawed their way back to within just one goal after Lomberg and Brandon Montour lit the lamp during the second period to make it 3-2.
But even the Panthers owning a dominant advantage in shot attempts (62-30) and high-danger shot attempts (22-9) during the second and third periods, the Kings made it 4-2 with an empty-net goal at 18:58 of the third period before Carter Verhaeghe made it 4-3 with 34 seconds left.
Coming up big for the Kings, Pheonix Copley made 45 saves, including 19 high-danger stops.
"That's what we've been doing this year," Montour said. "We get down early and we take it to them after that. You don't want to be in a position where you've got to do that. You've got to play that way that we played in the second and the third right from the start."
Leading the Panthers in goals with 26, Verhaeghe extended his point streak to seven games, while Aleksander Barkov, who was named to the All-Star Game on Friday, pushed his point streak to a career-high 10 games. Hitting a nice milestone, Montour's point streak reached eight games, which set a new record for the longest such streak by a defenseman in Panthers history.
With two assists, Matthew Tkachuk upped his team-high point total to 64.
In the second period against Los Angeles, the Panthers suffered a scare when Gustav Forsling, the victim of a boarding penalty, crashed into the boards feet-first in a race for the puck. Despite being helped off the ice, the top-pairing defenseman returned in the third period to finish the tilt.
As of this morning, his status against Boston is up in the air.
"We'll have to have a good look at him tomorrow," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of Forsling, who's posted 30 points (seven goals, 23 assists) this season. "I'm not 100% sure he's playing."
With both Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight dealing with injuries, Florida's situation in net will also remain unclear until Maurice holds his pre-game media availability. Prior to the game against the Kings, Maurice said there was an outside chance that Bobrovsky could play today.
If Bobrovsky can't go, the Panthers will turn to either Alex Lyon, who made 29 saves against Los Angeles, or rookie Mack Guzda, who was recalled from the AHL on Friday. Lyon has made five straight appearances in net for the Panthers, while Guzda has yet to make his debut in the NHL.
Maurice is expected to provide lineup information to the media around 3:30 p.m. ET.
On top of both the Atlantic Division and the NHL, the Bruins sit at 38-6-4, but saw their six-game winning streak come to an end in a 3-2 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
Tied 2-2 in the third period on goals from Brad Marchand and Pavel Zacha, the Bruins fell behind 3-2 after Victor Hedman lit the lamp at 13:19 of the third period. With both goalies standing tall, Linus Ullmark made 32 saves for Boston, while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 37 for Tampa Bay.
"I thought [Ullmark] did great," Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the loss. "I thought he made a lot of saves look easy. He was in such good position. Vasilevskiy played great too. He made a lot of high-quality saves. It was a playoff-type game."
David Pastrnak, an All-Star, leads Boston in goals (37), assists (33) and points (70).
Looking much farther down the team's offensive leaderboard, Marchand is second on the team in scoring with 46 points (16 goals, 30 assists), David Krejci is third with 40 points (12 goals, 28 assists), and Patrice Bergeron occupies third with 38 points (18 goals, 20 assists).
In the thick of the race for the Vezina Trophy, Ullmark, who will join Pastrnak at the All-Star Game, owns a 25-3-1 record with a 1.86 goals-against average and .937 save percentage.
Facing off for the fourth and final time this season, the Panthers have posted a 1-2-0 record against the Bruins, including securing an impressive 5-2 win at FLA Live Arena back on Nov. 23.
In need of a performance just like that, Maurice said the Panthers must carry their strong finish against the Kings into the first period of tonight's critical matchup against the Bruins.
"That's got to be our starting point tomorrow," Maurice said. "We can't pass up opportunities to get a puck to the net."
