RECAP: Kings 2, Panthers 1

LOS ANGELES – On the second half of a back-to-back, late bounces proved costly for the Florida Panthers in a 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday.

With the loss, the Panthers now sit at 28-18-3.

“We’ll always own our part,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We came off our forecheck in the third and didn’t sustain much, which put more pressure on that back-end net front. That would be the difference.”

In a grind-it-out start to the game, no goals were scored in the first period.

The Panthers came up empty on their one trip to the power play, but also came up in the clutch with a pair of successful penalty kills against the Kings. Over the two trips to the man advantage for Los Angeles, the Panthers allowed just three shots on goal.

Finding the back of the net for the third time in his last four games, Evan Rodrigues broke the ice for Florida in the second period when he took a no-look pass from Anton Lundell and fired the puck into the net from the doorstep on the power play to make it 1-0 at 7:27.

With the secondary assist, rookie Mackie Samoskevich logged his fourth point in the last four games.

“I kind of got the puck from the end boards and just was able to see Roddy (Rodrigues) was back-post before I got it,” Lundell said of his set-up pass. “I just one touched it to him.”

Making a strong push, the Panthers led 15-7 in scoring chances in the second period.

Putting an end to Spencer Knight’s impressive shutout streak, the Kings evened the score in the third period when rookie Samuel Helenius crashed the net and lifted a rebound into the cage to make it 1-1 at 6:41 with the first goal of his NHL career.

Very solid once again despite taking the loss, Knight finished with 26 saves.

“He’s been really good,” Lundell said of Knight, who’s allowed two or fewer goals in three of his last four starts. “We always knew. We trust him. He’s a really talented goalie. He really steps up when the team needs him the most.”

Continuing to get stronger as the period went on, the Kings took the lead when Kevin Fiala fired a shot that caught a piece of Adrian Kempe in front before fluttering into the net to make it 2-1 at 13:12.

Looking for the tying goal, the Panthers threw everything they had as Los Angeles’ crease late in regulation, including firing off three shots on goal over the final 12 seconds to no avail.

In the third period, the Kings led 2-0 in goals and 14-5 in shots on goal.

Despite leaving with no points, the Panthers like much of their game in the loss.

“There’s been a couple of periods I haven’t liked since Christmas, and that’s about it,” Maurice said. “We’ve played hard, battled hard. But we’re going to have a whole bunch of these the rest of the year, so we’ve got to get used to it -- scratch and claw for points.”

After wrapping up their back-to-back, the Panthers will now how two days to prepare for their next back-to-back of the trip, which kicks off against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

“Rest up and get back to work,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said.

THEY SAID IT

“Both teams check hard. They made it hard for us to get after their back end, and they got some time in our end.” – Paul Maurice

“I think we played pretty good most of the game. In the third period, they got a couple quick goals and we couldn’t answer that.” – Anton Lundell

“They’ve got a lot of speed up front. They come out fast, and you’ve got to be ready here. We did a real good job [defensively] today.” – Gustav Forsling

CATS STATS

- Sam Bennet had a team-high five hits.

- Aleksander Barkov won a team-high eight faceoffs.

- Nate Schmidt led the Panthers with 24:41 of ice time.

- Spencer Knight made five high-danger saves, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

- The Panthers have allowed two or fewer goals in four of their last five games.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will crack open another back-to-back with a showdown against the Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET.

To find a place to watch the game in South Florida, click HERE.