Jonathan Quick withstood a barrage of shots Thursday night, and the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Florida Panthers 2-1 in a physical game at Staples Center. Quick saved 41 of 42 shots for his 11th win of the season. The win moved the Kings (13-8-4, 30 points) into second place in the Pacific Division, within a point of the Dallas Stars.
The Kings have beaten the Panthers seven straight times.
The Kings were getting outshot badly in the first two periods (29-16) even though they held a lead. "We need to move our feet, we've got to get moving with the puck. They are skating circles around us right now, making us look dumb. We're relying too much on Quickie out there, we have to pick it up," Jarret Stoll told Patrick O'Neal on the Fox Sports West broadcast during a break in the action midway through the second period.
The game picked up alright, and both sides got testy. After Dustin Brown scored a power play goal off a crisp pass from Slava Voynov at 14:13 of the second period to give the Kings a 2-0 lead, the Panthers struck back. Sean Bergenheim scored for Florida less than two minutes later to cut the lead to 2-1, then near the end of the second stanza was involved in a hit to the head of Mike Richards.
Richards didn't take kindly to the hit, and was called for both roughing and slashing against Bergenheim, who was also called for roughing. Stoll was also called for roughing, and the Panthers were on the power play for four minutes. However, the Kings were able to kill that penalty. Richards did not play in the third period as he was being evaluated in the locker room after taking that shot to the head.
Florida pulled goaltender Jose Theodore with 1:17 remaining, but were unable to score the equalizer.
Game Notes
The Panthers on Thursday night were without leading scorer Kris Versteeg, who suffered a broken nose Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes....Willie Mitchell left the game in the first period with a lower body injury, and did not return....There was a brief stoppage at 6:43 of the second period as a rounded pane of glass was broken in front of the Kings' bench. The glass had to be replaced before the game began.
The Kings end their four-game homestand Saturday afternoon against the Montreal Canadiens.