The Florida Panthers handled the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday night. The Panthers begin a three-game homestand after coming off a four-game Western Conference road trip. Both teams faced each other in Los Angeles just seven days ago.
The Panthers leaped to first place in the Atlantic Division. Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky collected his 46th career shutout.
Kings defenseman Drew Doughty made his season debut with the club tonight after missing the first 47 contests. He fractured his ankle during the preseason.
Panthers defenseman Dmitri Kulikov participated in his 1,000 NHL game. He is in his second stint with Florida. Panthers head coach Paul Maurice was behind the bench for his 1,900 regular season game, which is currently second all-time in NHL history.
Los Angeles Kings television and radio play-by-play announcer Nick Nickson did announce his final game ever in South Florida. Nickson, an Ithaca College grad, announced last year that he was retiring from his NHL career at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season after 44 years in the Kings broadcast booth.
Florida(30-19-3) scooted out to a 1-0 lead at the 4:55 mark. Kulikov sent a diagonal pass from the right point. Matthew Tkachuk made a square pass from the inner right circle. Sam Bennett lifted a wrist shot from the left side of the crease over Darcy Kuemper for his 16th goal of the season.
After a scoreless second period, the Panthers expanded it to 2-0 on a 5-on-3 power play at 4:43 of the third period. Aleksander Barkov won the left-circle faceoff and Sam Reinhart drew it back. Tkachuk released a shot from the high slot that went off the back half-wall. Barkov backhanded the puck in from the left of the crease for his 12th tally of the campaign. It was the first time this season that Florida scored with a 5-on-3 man advantage
Los Angeles(26-16-6) pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with over three minutes to go. Tkachuk fired a forehand shot from the red line into an empty net with 35.5 seconds left for his third point in the contest and 16th goal this year.
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