LOS ANGELES — Despite missing four players, including their two biggest stars, the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers had sharp enough claws to maul the Kings, 5-2, on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings lost for the third time in four games overall and slipped to 1-4-2 at home this season after being the NHL’s best home team last season. The Panthers continued their step-forward, step-back quest for a three-peat after losing to the Ducks, 7-3, on Tuesday night. Both teams dangled precariously above a .500 points percentage. It was Florida’s first win in Los Angeles since March of 2019.
The Kings have scored two or fewer goals six times and lost five of those games, and they have surrendered three or more goals in 11 of 15 outings, losing in nine such instances.
“You can’t panic. We’d like to score more, I’d like to score more, but it’s just not happening right now,” winger Trevor Moore said. “We like what we see in a lot of areas in our game, we don’t want to get away from those.”
Anže Kopitar and Corey Perry each scored for the Kings. Anton Forsberg stopped a meager 19 of 24 shots.
With no Matthew Tkachuk or Aleksander Barkov so far this season, Florida got two goals from Brad Marchand Thursday to bring his total to nine. Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell also deposited the puck. Niko Mikkola chipped in two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves.
The final frame saw the Kings create opportunities only to see them evaporate summarily.
“We came out with lots of energy in the third period, we had three or four good looks around Bobrovsky, we had a chance to push and then we shot ourselves in the foot, I guess you’d call it, it’s one of the phrases, there’s a few different ones,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said.
Down a goal, they went to the power play, but after Kopitar was foiled on a backdoor chance, a Kevin Fiala giveaway led to a short-handed breakaway goal for Lundell with 11:19 to play. With 7:24 left, Mikkola’s well-timed pinch at the offensive blue line created an Adrian Kempe turnover, leaving Marchand open for a snipe from the inner part of the right circle that threw the game into the refrigerator.
“A few mistakes ended up in the net, that’s the way it goes,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “They’re a great team for a reason, they don’t need much to capitalize.”
The Panthers are now 103-6-7 when leading after two periods during the Paul Maurice era, which has seen them win three Eastern Conference crowns and two Stanley Cup titles.
The Kings trailed 3-2 at the second intermission. Their penalty kill improved to 20 for its past 22, with two short-handed goals offsetting what little they allowed in that span, but gave up an even-strength goal.
At 11:45, after Perry nearly set up Alex Turcotte at the other end, the Panthers pulled back in front off a counterattack. Carter Verhaeghe lent speed to the rush and found Reinhart, who turned 30 on Thursday, in the slot for a backhand tally shortly afterward.
The Kings had fallen down by a goal, tilted the ice in their favor to take a lead and then committed a blunder to leave the match tied at 2-all through 20 minutes.
With 2:30 left in the frame, Forsberg showed limited situational awareness as he casually handled the puck behind the net before being stripped clean by Marchand. The former Boston Bruins captain scored with total ease. Aaron Ekblad’s assist meant that all three key re-signings this summer for Florida recorded a point Thursday since Marchand and Bennett each had a goal.
“He’s been outstanding for us all season, he’s the one who drives us,” Bobrovsky said of Marchand. “He’s a leader in the locker room and a leader on the ice.”
The Kings had taken their first lead off Perry’s goal 6:30 earlier. Anderson’s stretch pass eluded a diving Ekblad, finding Perry at the blue line. He dashed in and roofed the puck far side for his sixth of the season. That placed him in a three-way tie for the team lead, despite Perry’s having played six fewer games than either Kempe or Fiala.
“He’s played enough games now, he’s been around and he knows what it takes,” Anderson said of Perry. “He’s a guy everyone will look to, even if he’s a little quieter. If you watch him play it’s pretty evident he’s making a mark.”
Perry, who fought A.J. Greer in the waning moments Thursday, drew the penalty that led to the Kings’ first goal, 9:23 into the contest. They had gone 1 for their previous 22 on the power play and gotten just two goals from their centers in a combined 52 games played, until Kopitar scored his first of the season. He deflected Kempe’s shot past Bobrovsky to finally break the seal for 2025-26, his 20th and final NHL season.
Just over two minutes into the match, the Panthers took advantage of some defensive discombobulation. A turnover by Phil Danault inside the offensive blue line was compounded by multiple pinches in the neutral zone, including by both defensemen, Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci. That ultimately left Andrei Kuzmenko alone at the net front, where Bennett easily out-battled him for a rebound that he popped past Forsberg.
The natives were restless on Figueroa on Thursday, with the loudest boos of the campaign to date and the first “fire Hiller” chants breaking out as the final horn loomed.
“I didn’t hear it, no, but, it happens, you know, it’s sports,” Moore said.
SPECIAL GUESTS
Several members of the Dodgers were the Kings’ guests at the game, receiving multiple loud ovations after winning their second straight World Series title last weekend.