Panthers Crown Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are one of the teams in NHL that the Florida Panthers have always had trouble beating. The long losing streak against them finally ended as the Panthers edged the Kings 3-1 on Thursday night at the Bank Atlantic Center. Florida has not defeated the Kings in South Florida since November 5, 2003 and at the Staples Center in Los Angeles since November 27, 2002. Neither team scored in the first period as the Panthers got their first shot on goal eight-and-a-half minutes in. In the second period, Florida got the first goal of the game at 4:52. Marcel Goc skated the puck through the neutral zone, dropped a pass to Sean Bergenheim and he blasted a shot from the high slot by the glove of Jonathan Quick. The Panthers extended the lead to 2-0 as Mike Santorelli hit a one-timer from the right face-off dot toward the near post following a pass by Tomas Fleischmann from the end wall. The seventh goal this season by Santorelli was at 17:14. Florida only had 11 shots on goal after two periods while they held the Kings to three shots in the second. Jonathan Bernier replaced Quick as the Kings goalie at the start of the third period. The Kings closed the gap with 2:28 left in regulation as Drew Doughty released a wrist shot from the slot area after a centering pass by Dustin Brown from the left-wing boards. Florida wrapped it up at 19:11 as Matt Bradley put the puck in an open net following led passes by Jason Garrison and Shawn Matthias from a defensive zone face-off.