RECAP: Panthers 'battled straight through' in loss to Kings

This was one that went from 0-100 real quick.
In a game in which both teams had more than their fair share of chances, the Florida Panthers simply ran out of time in a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
"Back and forth," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "We were trailing for a while and couldn't' get the lead. We traded chances. The last shot that hit the net won. We had a chance to tie it at the very end, but it was about as wide open a game as you could imagine."

On a delayed penalty after Rudolfs Balcers was high-sticked, Ryan Lomberg opened the scoring when he carried the puck into the offensive zone and sniped a shot over Jonathan Quick's blocker from the right circle to put the Panthers up 1-0 at 11:00 of the first period.
In the second period, three goals were scored within a span of less than a minute.
Briefly tying the game for the Kings, Rasmus Kupari slipped down the slot undetected, took a pass from Kevin Fiala and fired a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-1 at 9:27. Just 18 second later, Carter Verhaeghe then put the Panthers right back on top when he fired a shot toward the crease that bounced off a defender's skate and into the net to make it 2-2 at 9:45.

"I'm just trying to find open spaces," said Verhaeghe, who has scored a team-leading seven goals. "My linemates are so good. They find me in different places on the ice. It's very easy to play with those two guys. I'm just lucky to play with them and I shoot the puck when I get it."
Finishing off the scoring spree, Trevor Moore got his stick on a long shot from Viktor Arvidsson and tipped the puck past Bobrovsky to get the game all square again and make it 2-2 at 10:19.
Then came the controversy.
On the power play, the Panthers appeared to regain the lead when a point shot from Brandon Montour clipped off Matthew Tkachuk and into the net to make it 3-2 at 17:39. However, the goal was immediately waived off after officials deemed that Tkachuk had interfered with Quick.
Given that Tkachuk appeared to only make incidental contact with Quick outside of the crease, the Panthers opted to challenge the play. After an extremely lengthy review, the call was upheld -- which came as quite a surprise -- and the Panthers were given a penalty for delay of game.
Looking at the NHL's rulebook, this snippet stands out: "Incidental contact with a goalkeeper will be permitted, and resulting goals allowed, when such contact is initiated outside of the goal crease, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact."
"I thought our power play was good," said Maurice. "The refs didn't agree."
On the ensuing power play for the Kings, Arvidsson scored to make it 3-2 at 19:34.
Trading goals to start the third period, Eetu Luostarinen took a pass from Sam Reinhart and beat Quick to make it 3-3 at 1:18. But just 1:22 after that, Blake Lizotte -- after being stoned by Bobrovsky on a breakaway -- potted his own rebound to put the Kings back on top 4-3 at 2:40.
With the chaos continuing to unfold, the Panthers pulled even once again when Tkachuk sent a pass through the slot to set up Verhaeghe for his second goal of the night to make it 4-4 at 5:04. Taking the lead with 3:18 remaining in regulation, Gabe Vilardi snuck a shot past Bobrovsky from a sharp angle to put the Kings up 5-4 with his team-leading ninth goal of the campaign.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Panthers fired off a flurry of shots after pulling their goaltender in favor of a 6-on-5 advantage, but couldn't light the lamp before the final horn.
"A couple breakdowns and they scored on them," Verhaeghe said. "They capitalized on their opportunities. It's a tough one to swallow. We battled back quite a bit there, so it just seems like they got the last one."

KEY QUOTES

"It's just getting some recovery and kind of forgetting about this one, just moving on. Fresh start. Just get it going tomorrow and play the way we can." - Carter Verhaeghe
"We battled good, but I think we just have to be better in the third periods. It's been slipping lately a little bit. We just have to be a little better at the end of the games." - Eetu Luostarinen
"They battled straight through. We've got to clean some stuff up, but there's no quit in them." - Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

• Brandon Montour blocked a team-high four shots.
  - Eetu Luostarinen led the Panthers with six shots on goal.
  - Florida led 27-22 in scoring chances at 5-on-5.
  - Matthew Tkachuk is sitting on 399 career points.
  - Sergei Bobrovsky appeared in his 600th NHL game.

WHAT'S NEXT?

With both teams on the second half of a back-to-back, the Panthers (6-5-1) will wrap up their four-game road trip with a matchup against the Anaheim Ducks (4-7-1) at Honda Center on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.