Kings defeat Panthers 2-1, pulling off rare comeback on visiting Cats

There was no Hollywood ending for the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Panthers took a lead into the third period against the host Los Angeles Kings but fell victim to a thrilling comeback story that sent the fans home happy, as LA took down the Cats 2-1.

Florida’s penalty kill was called into action during the first period, which has been something of a normal occurrence lately.

Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk took neutral zone minor penalties, with Tkachuk’s coming just 23 seconds after Barkov’s ended, but the Cats were able to keep the game scoreless as Spencer Knight made several big saves in goal.

Florida went most of the first period with only one shot on goal before getting several pucks on Darcy Kuemper during a late power play.

It would be on the man advantage that the Panthers would open the scoring early in the second period.

A long shot by Mackie Samoskevich went just wide of Kuemper, but Anton Lundell was right there to play the carrom off the boards and make a gorgeous, between the legs pass to Evan Rodrigues.

Thanks to Lundell’s pass, Kuemper was completely out of position, giving Rodrigues an empty net and Florida a 1-0 lead.

The score would stay that would until the 6:41 mark of the third period, when rookie Samuel Helenius picked up a rebound after a loose puck situation had Knight on his belly, scoring his first NHL goal and tying the game at one.

Los Angeles took their first lead of the game with 6:48 to go on a deflection by Adrian Kempe in front of the net.

Florida put on a furious flurry in the final seconds but Kuemper and the Kings stood tall.

On to San Jose.

QUICK THOUGHTS

Lundell now has points in three of his past four games.

Knight’s shutout streak, which stretched back to Florida’s win in New Jersey last week, lasted 151 minutes and 14 seconds.

Rodrigues has scored on back-to-back nights and has four goals in the seven games he’s played since snapping his 15-game goal drought.

Samoskevich is becoming an assist machine. He had just two assists during the first 40 games of the season, but he’s racked up four helpers in the four games since.

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