Panthers Reign Over Kings

     The Florida Panthers continued their four-game west coast road trip with a 4-3 victory to the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Saturday. The Panthers extended their winning streak to four games. The Kings have fallen in five of their last six games. The Cats swept Los Angeles in the two-game season series for the first time since 1996-97.
     Florida(32-27-12) jumped out in front 1-1 on a power-play tally at 4:10 of the first period. Henrik Borgstrom backtracked the puck to Keith Yandle at the left point. His diagonal pass went to Mike Hoffman and he blasted a one-time slapshot from the top right circle for his 33rd goal of the season.
     Los Angeles (25-38-8) answered back as they scored with the man advantage at the 7:35 mark. Drew Doughty made a long lead pass from his own defenseman zone to Dustin Brown at the Panthers blue line for a breakaway. He went through the left circle and scored on a backhand shot for his 18th goal of the campaign. Brown compiled the only goal against Florida on February 23 in their earlier meeting this season in Sunrise. He also passed Rob Blake for fifth all-time in Kings franchise history with his 93rd career power-play goal.
     In the second period, the Panthers mustered the only goal of the frame at 4:04. Evgenni Dadonov, who played in his 200th NHL game, gave them a 2-1 lead from the edge of the blue paint on assists from Aleksander Barkov and Mike Matheson. Barkov set a career-high with his 79th point this season after he had 78 points in 2017-18.
     The Kings picked up an early goal during the third period just 1:05 in to tie it at 2-2. Jeff Carter shot twice from the left circle which Sam Montembeault saved. Brendan Leipsic got on a rebound at the left side of the crease and scored on a forehand shot. Jeff Carter chalked up his 700th career point with an assist on the initial shot from close range.
     They kept the momentum in the third and took their first lead of the contest at 9:44. Brown brought the puck into the Panthers zone and down the right wing to the right corner. His centering pass to the slot area was slapped in by Anze Kopitar for his 20th goal of the campaign.
     The Cats evened it up with 6:12 remaining in the period. Jonathan Quick poked away the puck from Jonathan Huberdeau at the top of the crease and Evgenii Dadonov followed up with a wrist shot from the low slot. Dadonov compiled his 24th goal of the campaign and second goal of the contest on the play. Barkov got an assist to become the third player in Panthers franchise history behind Pavel Bure and Olli Jokinen to reach the 80-point mark in a season.
     Florida pulled ahead 4-3 with 1:54 left in the third. Dadonov pushed the puck from above the left circle to Barkov in the left corner. Barkov backhanded it to the middle where Huberdeau deked in the crease and slipped a backhand shot by Quick.