Friday, January 27, 2023

Kings Sack Panthers

     The Los Angeles Kings held off the Florida Panthers 4-3 at FLA Live Arena on Friday night. The Panthers will play 20 of their last 32 regular season games at home in Sunrise. The Kings continued a six-game road trip. 
     Los Angeles(28-17-6) got out to a 1-0 lead with 6:35 left in the first period. Adrian Kempe backhanded the puck from the right wing to Quinton Byfield in the right corner. He backhanded it to the middle and Anze Kopitar lifted a backhand shot from the low slot past Alex Lyon for his 15th goal of the season.  
     The Kings scored a shorthanded goal with 2:02 left in the first for a 2-0 lead. Blake Lizotte came in on the left side on a two-on-one breakaway. He slid the puck across the slot and Kempe smashed a one-time slap shot from the right circle or his 20th goal of the campaign. It is the second straight season that Kempe has reached the 20-goal mark. 
     In the second period, Los Angeles scored another shorthanded goal one second into a Panthers power play at the 9:58 mark to make it 3-0. Mikey Anderson connected a cross-ice pass from the low left circle and Victor Arvidsson tapped it in from the top of the crease.  
     Florida(23-22-6) closed it to 3-1 with 6:37 remaining in the second. Eric Staal centered the puck from behind the Kings cage and it was touched by Nick Cousins in the crease area. Ryan Lomberg released a backhand shot from the low slot for his seventh goal this season. 
     The Cats made it 3-2 with 3:41 left in the period. Matthew Tkachuk sent the puck from the right point. Brandon Montour blasted a slap shot from the top left circle by Phoenix Copley for his ninth goal. Carter Verhaeghe was credited with a secondary assist on the tally to extend his point streak to a career-high seven games. 
     It became 4-2 for the Kings with 1:02 to go in the third period. Matt Roy shot the puck from his own defensive zone into an empty net. 
    The Panthers cut it to 4-3 with 33.4 seconds left. Tkachuk centered the puck from the left corner and Verhaeghe was able to score his 26th goal this season from the right circle. 

No comments:

Post a Comment