LOS ANGELES — The Kings gutted out their 10th victory in their last 11 home games, 2-1, over the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Wednesday night, sending them off on their upcoming five-game road trip with a glide in their stride, though perhaps not an abundance of offensive confidence.
Though the Kings still have the fewest goals of any team in 2025, they have also tied for the fewest goals against, allowing them to stay above .500 (5-4-0) since the calendar turned.
The Kings worked their third-period magic at Crypto.com Arena, converting a one-goal deficit into a one-goal victory in the final 20 minutes. They have lost just four times on home ice this season, two fewer than any other team in the league.
Samuel Helenius scored his first NHL goal before Adrian Kempe added a goal to his team-leading total. Darcy Kuemper was stalwart, making 26 saves.
Evan Rodrigues scored the Panthers’ only goal. Spencer Knight stopped 28 shots.
With 6:48 to play, the Kings took their first lead of the night before protecting it effectively.
After losing control of a faceoff in the Florida zone, they recovered the puck on the forecheck and went to work. Brandt Clarke provided a rare game-breaking secondary assist, walking the blue line and creeping all the way down below one faceoff circle before throwing a diagonal pass above the opposite circle, where Kevin Fiala hammered a kneeling one-timer for Kempe to deflect past Knight for his team-best 24th goal.
With the Kings’ goal drought lingering over their heads, they spoke the language of Hometown Buffet: meat, potatoes and grease. At the 6:41 mark, they made good on their rhetoric, knotting the score with workmanlike marker. Spence’s attempt from the point struck both Kings winger Tanner Jeannot and Florida defenseman Uvis Balinskis. From a prone position on the ice, Jeannot recovered to stab at the puck, creating a rebound that Helenius backhanded home for his first career goal.
In the second period, Florida carried some momentum from late in the first and got a goal from its second power-play unit at 7:27. Phillip Danault’s hooking minor turned into a deficit 1:36 later. Anton Lundell, who drew the penalty, collected a wide attempt shot off the end boards and casually slipped a no-look pass off his backhand and through the goal crease for Rodrigues. He nudged the puck into a gaping aperture for his second goal in as many nights and his third in four games.
The Kings’ best opportunities behind the defense were foiled by a lack of footspeed from Anže Kopitar and Trevor Lewis. They would nearly equalize, but Kopitar also failed to finish a play that nearly passed the puck into the net, originating with Fiala and Spence and generating what could have been an uncontested tap-in for the Kings captain.
The first period came and went without a goal, despite three power plays. Florida nearly scored 15 seconds into its opportunity but a quick whistle for a freeze denied Aleksander Barkov. Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, both top-line players for Florida, each had stick infractions in the first period, and after Barkov’s penalty the Kings looked lively on the power play, only to get a pair of five-on-five goals in the third to break through late.
More to come on this story.
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