Shorter version this time, thanks to the ridiculously late West Coast start time…
Additional coverage at Jewels from the Crown
The Panthers will only see the Los Angeles Kings once this season in LA, and netminder Jonathan Quick make sure that Florida wouldn’t leave with two points, as the Kings held the Panthers to just one goal on 41 shots en route to a 2-1 Los Angeles victory. The Cats once again struggled to score as the top line was held pointless, though it wasn’t for a lack of chances. Statistically, the Panthers played a more aggressive game than the Kings, but once again fell behind in the hitting category, getting physically outplayed at times and not showing enough of the rough stuff down in the defensive zone and along the boards. Some games it’s clear that comes back to bite the Cats.
Some quick notes from this game: Sean Bergenheim scored the only Panther goal of the (late) evening off a rebound; Dmitry Kulikov saw almost 21 minutes of ice time after being questionable with a pretty nasty cut on his ankle; Erik Gudbranson notched his first NHL point with an assist on the Bergenheim goal; Kris Versteeg sat this one out with a fractured nose, so Evgenii Dadonov filled his spot on the top line; Florida had six power play opportunities but didn’t score on a single one; Bergenheim led the team with seven shots on goal; Florida was outhit 45-18.
We’ll be back on Saturday from San Jose, where the Panthers look to continue the road trip’s winning ways and put this one behind them.