RECAP: Panthers 4, Kings 2

QUEBEC CITY – The Florida Panthers are ready for the real thing.

Closing out their preseason, the defending Stanley Cup champions secured a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings in a neutral-site matchup at Videotron Centre in Quebec City on Saturday.

On Oct. 8, they’ll kick off the regular season against the Boston Bruins in Sunrise.

"We got through fairly healthy, which is a good thing," head coach Paul Maurice said of the preseason. "I think structurally we have the idea of what we want to do. ... In terms of the game, we have to hit to be good. We're a very physical team. With that, every part of our game has a better chance of being executed. It was a very good camp."

A native of Quebec, Phillip Danault made the home crowd proud when he tipped in a point shot from Vladislav Gavrikov to give Los Angeles an early 1-0 lead at 6:03 of the first period.

With the Panthers on the power play, Aleksander Barkov evened the score soon after when he finished off a beautiful give-and-go with Carter Verhaeghe in transition by tucking the puck just past Darcy Kuemper’s outstretched pad off his backhand to make it 1-1 at 9:07.

It might be early, but the captain already looks to be in top form.

"It was a great experience," Barkov said of playing in Quebec City. "I know it's preseason and sometimes you maybe don't want to fly those four hours somewhere, but for this one, for sure. I'll remember this for a long time."

Earning another trip to the man advantage in the first period, the second unit got it done for the Panthers the second time around when Anton Lundell batted in a flying puck from the right side of the net after a point shot from Aaron Ekblad to bring the score to 2-1 at 16:03.

After the game, Maurice pointed to Lundell's line -- which includes rookie Mackie Samoskevich -- as a standout trio.

"He looked fast," Maurice said of Samoskevich, who made his preseason debut after nursing an upper-body injury throughout camp. "He looked fast throughout his shift. Amateur players come in and they come in and out of shifts. They make their play with the puck and then basically stand up and watch other guys go hard and then they kind of back into it. Based on one game, but even early in camp before he was injured, he looked very strong, very quick. He's got elite NHL hands."

Following a lot of back-and-forth action, the Panthers padded their lead late in the second period when Jonah Gadjovich, who was robbed by Kuemper earlier in the period, stuck up his stick in the slot and deftly tipped in a long shot from Ekblad to make it 3-1 at 19:15.

Giving the Kings a spark in the third period, Trevor Moore scored from the slot to make it 3-2 after Quinton Byfield unleashed a powerful move to lure Bobrovsky out of the crease at 7:44.

Helping to limit the damage, the Panthers killed off a power play soon after.

Overall, they finished a perfect 3-for-3 on the kill.

"Special teams was good," Barkov said. "Of course, there's a lot of areas we can be a lot better at."

With the Kings pulling Kuemper in favor of the extra attacker late in regulation, the Panthers locked in the win when Gadjovich buried a long empty-net goal to make it 4-2 with 24 seconds left on the clock.

Even though the points don't matter in the long run, the Panthers finished the preseason an impressive 5-3-0.

"I think the biggest thing for us is just jelling as a group," Gadjovich said. "Obviously we have our systems, we have the way that we play. That's kind of non-negotiable. Everyone's bought in. We're just building right now."