The Florida Panthers dropped a 2-1 decision to the Los Angeles Kings last night at Crypto.com Arena that brought the Cats five-game winning streak to a screeching halt.
Despite putting 31 shots on Kings goaltender Cam Talbot and getting five chances on the power play, Florida could only muster up a third period goal from Sam Reinhart to keep from getting shut out.
Los Angeles jumped out to an early lead when Trevor Moore sent Phillip Danault and Kevin Fiala away on 2-on-1 break. Danault passed to Fiala and he solved Sergei Bobrovksy on the backhand 1:20 after opening puck drop.
A tripping call on Kevin Stenlund led to Anze Kopitar’s power-play 13:53 into the second period. After trading passes with Drew Doughty, Fiala found Kopitar in the high slot and he cranked a one-timer past Bobrovksy for what turned out to be the decisive goal.
Reinhart pulled one back with 8:15 remaining in regulation to extend his point streak to six games. Samson set up a prime scoring chance for Aleksander Barkov that Talbot denied with his blocker. Barkov helped win the puck back behind the net and Carter Verhaeghe fed out in front to Reinhart who went high glove-side on Talbot.
Reinhart’s goal was his 13th, which put him in a four-way tie with Auston Matthews, Brock Boeser and Kyle Connor for the most in the NHL.
This was a pretty good road effort from the Cats that ended in a tough result. Allowing the early goal on the odd-man rush hurt (the Kings are 7-0-1 when scoring first) and Talbot gave up one less marker than Bobrovsky in what turned out be a goaltenders’ duel. After potting a pair goals on the power play in the last two games, the 0-fer last night was disappointing. The Panthers will get right back at it tonight in Anaheim, with the success of the trip hanging in the balance.
Baubles & Bits
- Florida has now lost six straight games to the Kings. The last time they beat them was a 4-3 decision on January 16, 2020 in Sunrise. This was just Los Angeles’ second win on home ice this season.
- As mentioned above, Sam Reinhart’s goal extended his point streak to six games. Carter Verhaeghe’s assist extended his to four games. Matthew Tkachuk’s seven-game streak came to an end.
- Speaking of streaks, Sergei Bobrovsky’s run of five straight wins came to end. Bobrovsky gave the Cats a quality start, finishing with 25 saves.
- The Kings went 1-for-2 on the power play after failing to score in six chances over the previous two games, which were both losses.
- Pierre-Luc Dubois and Josh Mahura didn’t make it through the third period. Hopefully both players are alright.
- For the other side of this tight game, stop by Jewels From The Crown.