Jonah Gadjovich scored with 45 seconds left in the second period and added a late empty-netter to lead the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at Videotron Center in Quebec City in the final game of the preseason for both clubs.
After Phillip Danault opened the scoring by tipping in Vladislav Gavrikov’s long-range shot at the 6:03 mark, Aleksander Barkov replied with a power-play goal 3:04 later.
Barkov stormed in on Darcy Kuemper and finished along the ice on the backhand with the assists going to linemates Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart.
Anton Lundell gave the Cats the lead with 3:57 left in the opening frame by batting Aaron Ekblad’s miss off the back boards into the net with Kuemper caught of position. The secondary assist went to Eetu Luostarinen and the goal came with Gavrikov in the penalty box for slashing.
Gadjovich’s late second period deflection of Ekblad’s shot put the Panthers 3-1. Matthew Tkachuk drew the second helper on the even-strength marker.
Trevor Moore, who picked up the second assist on Danault’s goal, was the beneficiary of a power move and pretty no-look backhand pass by Quinton Byfield, scoring from the slot at 7:44 of the third when Sergei Bobrovsky’s poke-check attempt on Byfield failed.
Gadjovich would ice it with an empty-netter with 45 ticks left on the clock. Ekblad drew the lone assist on the goal, his third of the night.
Florida’s special teams was the difference as the Cats went 2-for-2 on the power play and killed off all three of the Kings chances.
Bobrovsky went the distance and finished with 26 saves as the Panthers finished the exhibition slate with a 5-3 record.
Things get real on Tuesday night.