Los Angeles Kings at Florida Panthers

· National Hockey League

Los Angeles Kings

28-17-6

Final
4 - 3

Florida Panthers

23-22-6

Kings hold on to beat Panthers 4-3 for 3rd straight win

Anze Kopitar, Viktor Arvidsson and Matt Roy also scored for the Kings, who led 3-0 midway through the second period.

Ryan Lomberg and Brandon Montour scored in the second to get the Panthers within 3-2, but Roy's late empty-netter sealed Florida's third straight loss.

Carter Verhaeghe added a last-minute goal for the Panthers and Alex Lyon had 28 saves while making his fourth consecutive start in place of the injured Sergei Bobrovsky.

Los Angeles scored twice within a span of four-plus minutes toward the end of the first period, going up 2-0 when Kempe connected on an odd-man rush while killing a Florida power play.

The Kings got their second short-handed goal of the game from Arvidsson to make it 3-0 at 9:58 of the second period.

Florida made a charge after that with Lomberg scoring off a backhanded shot from the slot with 6:37 left in the second. Montour followed about three minutes later with a hard slap shot from the left circle.

The Panthers temporarily lost top defenseman Gustav Forsling to injury in the second period when his skate was taken out by the stick blade of Alex Turcotte as the two went into the corner.

Forsling lost his footing and slammed hard into the boards, apparently injuring his left leg. He had to be helped off the ice but returned in the third period.

Turcotte was assessed a 5-minute major for boarding.

Game notes
Florida captain Aleksander Barkov was named to next weekend’s All-Star Game, which the Panthers are hosting. Barkov replaces Toronto star Auston Matthews, who was was ruled out with a knee sprain. “It is home here in Florida, so it means even more. I’m really happy, honored and proud to be here,’’ Barkov said. ... With its two NHL goalies still out with injuries, Florida called up Mack Guzda from the AHL to back up Lyon. ... Florida fell to 0-17-1 when trailing after two periods.

UP NEXT

Kings: At Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

Panthers: Host Boston on Saturday night.

Regular Season Series

LA wins series 2-0

Scoring Summary

Goal	1st Period 13:25	Goal scored by Anze Kopitar assisted by Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe
Goal	1st Period 17:58	Goal scored by Adrian Kempe assisted by Blake Lizotte (SHG)
Goal	2nd Period 9:58	Goal scored by Viktor Arvidsson assisted by Mikey Anderson and Phillip Danault (SHG)
Goal	2nd Period 13:23	Goal scored by Ryan Lomberg assisted by Nick Cousins and Eric Staal
Goal	2nd Period 16:19	Goal scored by Brandon Montour assisted by Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe
Goal	3rd Period 18:58	Goal scored by Matt Roy (EN)
Goal	3rd Period 19:26	Goal scored by Carter Verhaeghe assisted by Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov

Statistics

LA		FLA
19	Blocked Shots	13
17	Hits	14
8	Takeaways	0
33	Shots	48
0	Power Play Goals	0
2	Power Play Opportunities	5
0.0	Power Play Percentage	0.0
2	Short Handed Goals	0
0	Shootout Goals	0
29	Faceoffs Won	31
48.3	Faceoff Win Percent	51.7
11	Giveaways	8
6	Total Penalties	4
15	Penalty Minutes	8

Florida Panthers Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Carter Verhaeghe, C	Day-To-Day	Mar 13
Anton Lundell, C	Day-To-Day	Mar 13
Uvis Balinskis, D	Day-To-Day	Mar 13
Aleksander Barkov, C	Injured Reserve	Mar 10
Brad Marchand, LW	Out	Mar 9