RECAP: Panthers 3, Kings 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers have clawed their way back into a playoff spot with a hard fought 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday.

At 18-13-2, the Panthers now hold the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

“Winning is everything,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “A little bit of confidence.”

Despite the Panthers entering the matchup with the best penalty kill in the NHL in December, the Kings managed to break the ice following a double-minor penalty.

On the second half of the four-minute power play, Joel Armia opened the scoring for Los Angeles when he tipped a shot from Brandt Clarke into the cage to make it 1-0 at 13:39.

After 20 minutes, the Panthers had surrendered just two scoring chances at 5-on-5.

“They were coming, and we survived the first period,” Maurice said.

In the second period, the Panthers responded with a power play goal of their own when Anton Lundell went to the net and tipped in a shot from Aaron Ekbald to make it 1-1 at 2:14.

With momentum on their side, the Panthers took the lead less than five minutes later when – after Jeff Petry fired a shot to create some chaos around the crease – Carter Verhaeghe sent the puck off a defender and past a befuddled Anton Forsberg to make it 2-1 at 7:04.

“We’re getting around the net,” Verhaeghe said. “We’re playing with speed. We were pretty close together on that breakout. We’re a fast line, get to the net with hard-nosed players.”

Keeping that lead intact, Daniil Tarasov later denied Trevor Moore on a breakaway.

Giving the Panthers a cushion just 10 seconds after the puck dropped in the third period, Sam Bennett tipped a pass from Brad Marchand over Forsberg’s blocker to make it 3-1.

Over his last five games, Bennett has scored four goals.

Benefitting from one of the luckiest bounces you’ll ever see, the Kings got their deficit back to just one goal when a clearing attempt from Gustav Forsling went off Los Angeles forward Kevin Fiala and straight past Tarasov into the back of Florida’s net to make it 3-2 at 4:48.

“It doesn’t matter,” Tarasov chuckled when asked about the odd goal. “A bad bounce.”

With under five minutes left, Tarasov shut down Moore on a breakaway once again.

“Just trying to be calm,” said Tarasov, who finished with 27 saves to earn his second win in his last three starts. “Not a lot of shots at the beginning of the game. There was more focus on every shot. Guys did an awesome. They denied a lot, the point and slot shots. Just be really focused. If something happens, just be there. Really happy to get this huge win for us.”

With 3:05 remaining in regulation, the Kings earned a power play, which later turned into a threatening 6-on-4 advantage with 2:15 left when they pulled Forsberg for the extra attacker.

But, as it has been so often in recent weeks, the Panthers came through on the penalty kill.

Holding on to pick up two huge points, Florida has gone 6-1-1 in its last eight games.

“It gives us a ton of confidence,” Verhaeghe said. “I think it took us a while to get our footing a little bit. Now we know how we want to play every night a little bit. Every year’s different.”

THEY SAID IT

“We’ve got a whole bunch of guys scoring now that weren’t at the start [of the season]. We’re getting to three and four goals a night here. That puts us at 12 in our last three games, and we haven’t given up more than two [in those games].” – Paul Maurice

“He’s (Daniil Tarasov) been awesome. He’s such a good goalie. In practice, at the start of year I could score on him. Now, I can’t score on him anymore. Yeah, he’s so good.” – Carter Verhaeghe

CATS STATS

- Carter Verhaeghe ranks fourth in the NHL in goals scored since Dec. 1 with seven.

- Sam Bennett won a team-high 10 faceoffs.

- Every Panthers defenseman blocked at least one shot.

- Daniil Tarasov saved 1.96 goals above expected, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

- Florida’s 13 points in December are tied for the most in the NHL.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will look to keep the good times rolling when they host Friday the Carolina Hurricanes at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. ET.

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